Hillary Clinton

LAKE PLACID — Hillary Clinton lost the general election to President-Elect Donald Trump, and she lost Essex County as well, 43.9 percent to Trump’s 47.3 percent.

But here in the Olympic Region, the Democratic candidate and the heavy favorite heading into Tuesday’s election, won every town.

In the county overall, the Republican Trump bested Clinton 7,275 votes to 6,760, but Clinton won by at least 2 percent in North Elba, Keene, Wilmington, Jay and St. Armand — some towns by a sizable margin. Turnout was as high as 65 percent (15,567) of the 23,973 registered voters in Essex County voted Tuesday.

By contrast, in 2012, when President Barack Obama was re-elected, 16,703 Essex County voters cast ballots in the presidential election. In 2008, 74 percent of registered Essex County voters (18,590) voted in the presidential election.

The closest race was in Wilmington, where Clinton’s 263 votes amounted to 46.7 percent of the vote, compared to Trump’s 251 votes (44.5 percent). Green party candidate Jill Stein took 17 votes (3 percent) and Libertarian Gary Johnson took 22 votes (3.9 percent), as 564 total votes were cast.

Clinton’s largest margin of victory was in Keene with 373 votes, 63.1 percent of the vote compared to Trump’s 167 votes, 28.3 percent. In the home of the High Peaks, the Green candidate Stein secured 18 votes, 3 percent, while Johnson took 23 votes, 3.9 percent, as 591 total votes were cast in Keene. Johnson’s running mate Bill Weld has strong ties to the Keene and Keene Valley area.

North Elba also produced a sizable margin for Clinton with 1,635 votes (56 percent) to Trump’s 1,029 votes (35 percent). Stein took 69 votes in North Elba (2.3 percent), and Johnson took 135 votes (5 percent), as 2,986 votes were cast.

Clinton’s margin of victory in Jay was a bit closer, with 529 votes (47 percent), compared to Trump’s 481 votes (43 percent). Stein secured 30 votes in Jay (3 percent), while Johnson took 65 votes (6 percent) as 1,120 votes were cast.

In St. Armand, Clinton won by nearly 10 percent, defeating Trump 49 percent to 39.8 percent as 309 people voted for Clinton compared to 251 for Trump. Twenty people voted for Stein in St. Armand (3.2 percent), and 38 people voted for Johnson (6 percent), as 631 votes were cast overall.

Stefanik tops Derrick in Essex by 18 percent

Republican incumbent Elise Stefanik ran away with a win in her re-election bid to represent the North Country’s 21st Congressional District, and in doing so won two counties she lost to Democrat Aaron Woolf in 2014, including Essex.

Stefanik defeated Democratic challenger Mike Derrick, a retired Army colonel from Peru (57 percent) with 8,458 votes to (39 percent) 5,701 votes in Essex, while return challenger in the Green Party’s Matt Funiciello, a Glens Falls breadbaker, took home 616 votes (4 percent).

Stefanik’s most impressive victory in the Olympic Region came in Jay where she took 52.3 percent of the vote (564 votes) to Derrick’s 43.4 percent (469 votes) and Funiciello’s 4.3 percent (46 votes).

Derrick pulled off an impressive win in North Elba by a razor-thin margin over Stefanik, his 1,369 votes besting her 1,328 votes 48 percent to 47 percent. Funiciello took 140 votes in North Elba, good for 5-percent.

Derrick easily defeated Stefanik in Keene, a place where members of his family live. Derrick doubled up on Stefanik in Keene, 64 percent (375 votes) to 32-percent (188 votes) while the Green Funiciello took 4 percent of the vote (22 votes) in the home of the High Peaks.

Stefanik won Wilmington, though, by a closer margin, 49 percent (265 votes) to Derrick’s 45 percent (244 votes) as Funiciello earned 5 percent (28 votes).

In St. Armand, Stefanik defeated Derrick 51 percent (308 votes) to 45 percent (268 votes) as Funiciello earned 4 percent (23 votes).

Stec, Little dominate Green challengers

Republican incumbent Dan Stec of Queensbury celebrated on stage at the Queensbury Hotel in Glens Falls late Tuesday night behind Stefanik when the 32-year-old U.S. representative gave her celebratory speech, but he also scored a massive victory Tuesday.

The Assemblyman ran away with his race versus Green Party challenger Robin Barkenhagen, a head shop owner from Glens Falls, in the North Country’s 114th Assembly District. Essex County was no different as he won 10,359 votes (85 percent) to Barkenhagen’s 1,859 votes in the county. Stec garnered at least 70 percent of the vote in every election district in the Olympic Region.

Incumbent Republican State Sen. Betty Little was also on stage Tuesday at the Queensbury Hotel, where she introduced Stefanik. And Little’s margin of victory over her Green Party challenger was even more impressive in Essex County.

The longtime state legislator defeated Steve Ruzbacki, a teacher from Olmstedville, with 88 percent of the vote in Essex County, 11,618 votes to Ruzbacki’s 1,508. Little won at least 79 percent of the vote in every election district in the Olympic Region.

State Supreme Court

Tim Lawliss of Peru may have lost the district wide race against Mark Powers of Schenectady to serve the North Country’s Fourth Judicial District, but on the Republican line he won Essex County — 8,132 votes to 5,503 for Powers, who was running on the Democratic and Conservative Party lines.