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Stefanik cruises to re-election

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik speaks at a Saranac Lake Republican rally in Riverside Park on Saturday, Oct. 22. Stefanik was re-elected to a fifth term Tuesday night. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

GLENS FALLS — Republican U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik easily was re-elected to a fifth term over Democratic challenger Matt Castelli, according to unofficial returns late Tuesday night.

With over 90% of the precincts reporting, Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, had about 59% of the vote compared with just under 40% for Castelli, a former CIA counterterrorism operative who lives in Glens Falls.

Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, thanked the crowd gathered at The Queensbury Hotel for their support and said she would continue fighting for them.

“No matter the smears from the mainstream media, no matter the smears from Hollywood, I will never apologize for giving this district a seat at the highest level,” she said.

Stefanik is currently the GOP Conference chair and will be even more influential if the Republicans win the majority in the House of Representatives as expected.

Elsewhere, U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, easily won re-election in the 20th Congressional District to an eighth term over Republican challenger Liz Lemery Joy.

Voters’ thoughts

Voters at the polls were enthusiastic about casting ballots for the GOP.

Tim Childs, of Queensbury, said he voted for Republicans across the board.

“Economy, my 401k, fuel prices, the border, safety and security,” he said, listing off the reasons why.

Another voter, who did not want to give her name, said she voted Republican because of concerns about the economy and living conditions and believes that the Democrats were focusing on the wrong priorities.

Spencer Quirion, who recently moved from Maine, said he was excited when he found out that Stefanik was his representative.

“Elise Stefanik is just an absolute rising star,” he said.

He added that her positions were clear.

“You know where she stands on every issue,” he said.

Quirion’s main issue is energy independence.

Gina Leibert, of Fort Edward, also voted a straight-Republican ticket, mainly on the issues of the economy and bail reform.

Castelli conceded the race in front of supporters at The Park Theater in Glens Falls. When contacted, the campaign had no further comment.

During the campaign, Castelli had attacked Stefanik as focusing more on climbing the political ladder than addressing the needs of the people in her district. He said he would put “country before party” and work in a bipartisan fashion. Castelli created a Moderate Party ballot line.

Stefanik had criticized Castelli as being a “far left downstate Democrat,” not having lived in the district, being endorsed by Gov. Kathy Hochul and supporting a gun ban.

The candidates did not debate. They could not agree on a schedule. Stefanik skipped a debate that was organized by WPTZ-TV in Plattsburgh.

Stefanik will have to relocate as her current residence is outside the reconfigured district.

Partisan divides were still very much evident at the polls.

At the Sanford Street School polling site in Glens Falls, a Democratic voter said she does not like Stefanik’s stance on abortion, close allegiance to former President Donald Trump and her votes against infrastructure funding.

“Our bridges and roads need a lot of work,” she said.

Chuck Drew, also of Glens Falls, said protecting voting rights was his main issue and voted against Stefanik.

“She’s a Trumper,” he said.

In 2020, Stefanik won with nearly 64% of the vote compared with 35% for Tedra Cobb.

Two years before that, Stefanik garnered 56% of the vote compared with 42.4% for Cobb and 1.5% for Green Party candidate Lynn Kahn.

NY-21 includes all of Warren, Washington, Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Montgomery, Schoharie, St. Lawrence and parts of Jefferson, Otsego and Rensselaer counties.

Republicans outnumber Democrats in the district in NY-21 by 38% to 28%. The district has about 25% of voters who are not affiliated with a party.

Ballot issue

Earlier in the day, voters in parts of Washington County had an issue with casting their vote because of an error in the way the ballots were printed.

Jeff Curtis, Democratic elections commissioner for the county, said the cut of the paper was off and the markings were not in the correct places.

“The machine wasn’t reading the ballot,” he said.

The ballots affected included in Argyle, Cambridge, Dresden, Easton, Fort Ann, Fort Ann and Fort Edward and Granville, according to Curtis.

The Board of Elections printed out all new ballots and everything returned to normal by afternoon.

“Those unscanned ballots will be hand counted,” he said.

Stefanik had sent a news release saying the campaign was notified of “serious election integrity issues” and provided the hotline for voters to report any irregularities at their polling site.

“The Elise for Congress campaign is working directly with the Republican National Committee and is exploring all legal options to ensure every legal vote, and only legal votes, are accurately and lawfully counted. Election integrity, rule of law, and transparency are of the utmost importance in our elections and our campaign is working diligently to obverse and ensure the security of such ballots,” she said in a news release.

Castelli criticized her for what he said was an effort to “manufacture controversy and stoke fear about the integrity of our elections.”

“Her fearmongering has the potential to make election workers from both parties — her own constituents — targets of potential violence,” he said in a news release. “I am grateful to the hardworking poll workers in Washington County who caught and corrected the technical issue that prevented ballots from being read by machines early this morning and who followed the required and trusted protocols to correct this issue.”

The Washington County Board of Elections issued a statement at 8 p.m. saying that the ballots that were not able to be scanned and read by the machine were secured by poll inspection staff members.

The Board of Elections coordinated with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office for retrieval and secure transport of all ballots cast at every poll site.

“The Washington County Board of Elections commissioners and our staff remain committed to maintaining the integrity of the election process and system, ensuring that every vote cast in Washington County will be counted,” the statement said.

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