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Stefanik had greatest victory margin among New York House Republicans

Rep. Elise Stefanik delivers her victory speech late on the night of Nov. 6, 2018, at the Queensbury Hotel in Glens Falls. (Photo — Jenn March, for the Post-Star)

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, won her bid for re-election to the 21st Congressional District by significantly less than she did two years ago, but she did win by more than any other Republican congressional representative in New York state.

Stefanik won over Democrat Tedra Cobb by 14.9 percentage points, according to unofficial live results posted by The Guardian.

In 2016, Ms. Stefanik won by 35 percentage points over Democrat Mike Derrick. Cobb managed to cut this margin by more than half.

The overall trend across the state, however, was toward even closer races.

Of the five Republican races that have been called, the next highest margin of victory was 10 percentage points for Rep. Tom Reed. Other representatives had much closer races, with John Katko winning by 6.2 percentage points, Peter King by 6.6 points and Lee Zeldin by 6.1 points. Two incumbent Republicans — Chris Collins and Claudia Tenney — are in races that are still too close to call.

Indeed, Stefanik maintained the greatest lead of any Republican through much of the Northeast. There is one toss-up race in New England; all other seats went to the Democrats. New Jersey has one Republican toss-up and one Republican incumbent — Chris Smith — who won by 12.5 points.

The Times asked both the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Democratic Congressional Committee for more information why the 21st Congressional District had such a broad margin of victory compared with relatively close Republican victories elsewhere. Neither could be reached for comment.

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