Some local results below
Two massive screens shared the news at the Nassau County Democrats’ election evening watch party in Garden City, the national results in which former president Donald Trump gained an insurmountable lead over party headliner Kamala Harris, and Senate seats in which Republicans secured the majority. As expected, New York’s electoral votes went to Harris, but that was hardly worth cheering as many in the crowd felt how their county, and particularly the race for New York’s Fourth Congressional District, served as a microcosm for the nation.
From Valley Stream to Freeport, lawn signs demonstrated each party’s sense of the election. Republican incumbent Anthony D’Esposito’s name appeared alongside Trump and opposition to Proposition 1, while signs for Democrat Laura Gillen featured only her name.
“I am so humbled and honored to be your new congresswoman,” Gillen said shortly around midnight, even as D’Esposito had not conceded, nor had the Associated Press called the race. She described her 1.7 percent leader, a margin of roughly 6,000 votes, as a “winning campaign that we will emulate for years to come.”
“We’ve had a great night here in Nassau County,” State Democratic Party Jay Jacobs said, as he stood between Gillen and Rep. Tom Suozzi, who was reelected in the northern portion of Nassau County for a full term. These two victories contributed towards the party’s flipping of the House, which will install Brooklyn Rep. Hakeem Jeffries as the Speaker.
At the same time, another Brooklynite, Sen. Chuck Schumer, will be losing his position as Senate Majority Leader. For Jewish voters, what could have been a proud example of a “Shomer Yisrael” was a disappointment, as he used his pulpit against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and downplaying antisemitism on college campuses. His failure to condemn antisemitism on the political left demonstrated that he was a liberal partisan rather than a true leader.
Across the state, the Republican share of the Jewish vote rose to 45 percent, with Israel, the economy, and social issues inspiring the historic shift. Teach NYS, a nonpartisan coalition aimed at increasing Orthodox turnout, had success earlier this year in Westchester County’s Democratic congressional primary, where George Latimer defeated Jamaal Bowman.
But in the general election, there was little sympathy for this party, as voters considered Harris’ failure to condemn anti-Israel hecklers at her rallies, and Gov. Kathy Hochul championing Proposition 1, which put protection for transgender individuals in the state constitution along with abortion rights.
“The anti-Israel fanaticism of the far left is entirely to blame for the erosion of Jewish support,” Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres wrote after the election.
Maps of the presidential election results on the local level show deep support for Trump across central Queens, southern Brooklyn, and Jewish communities on Long Island such as the Five Towns, Great Neck, and West Hempstead. It meant that Democratic supporters of the Orthodox community also faced difficult races as their names became associated with Harris, while many Trump voters circled in others on the Republican line.
In Far Rockaway, incumbent Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato eked out 49.44 percent against Republican Tom Sullivan, who came in less than two percent within her victory. In the weeks preceding the election, her supporters urged voters to disregard her party affiliation and judge her based on accomplishments for the district.
Likewise in Brooklyn’s 45th Assembly District, Republican incumbent Michael Novakhov kept his seat with 45.42 percent against frum Democratic challenger Joey Cohen-Saban. The latter ran as a conservative, with support from numerous rabbis and community leaders, but voters in the district followed Trump and kept the Russian-speaking incumbent in office. His base included fellow Jews from the former Soviet Union and Asian-Americans, who are also shifting towards the Republican Party in recent elections. The same neighborhoods also gave the GOP a new State Senator, Steve Chan, who defeated freshman Iwen Chu.
In Queens, however, longtime Democratic incumbents Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky and Assemblywoman Nily Rozic kept their seats against Republican challengers from the Asian-American community. For now, Most Asian-American and Jewish voters remain registered Democrats, and largely voted for the party’s candidates, but the gains made by Republicans in past elections and in 2024 show that a shift is underway in both communities, favoring conservative economic and social policies. As both communities mobilize to increase their share of the vote, the Democrats cannot ignore them. The party must either adapt, or stand to lose the few narrow local wins it had this year.
By Sergey Kadinsky
