Brown Wins 12th Assembly District Race As Marcantonio Concedes

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — Republican Keith Brown has won New York's Assembly District 12 race against Democratic challenger Michael Marcantonio. Marcantonio conceded Thursday, Brown said.

Brown led Marcantonio by nearly 8,000 votes on Election Day. Marcantonio believed absentee ballots, which heavily favored Democrats, would be enough to edge him past Brown. However, after about 16,000 absentee votes were counted, Brown unofficially won by roughly 3,000 votes, election officials told Newsday.

Brown wrote on Facebook he is "so humbled" to be elected to the state assembly.

"I want to thank my entire family, my colleagues and all the good folks that have supported me the past 9 months," he said. "I am so excited to get started and be a vigorous advocate for Long Islanders in the halls of our State Capitol. I am so looking forward to serving the people of the 12th Assembly District."

Marcantonio, in a statement, said he called Brown to congratulate him on winning their "hard-fought" race and wish him the best of luck.

"While all the votes have not yet been counted, it looks like we’re going to fall short by a margin of about 1-2 percent, making this the closest election for the 12th Assembly District in its history," he said on Saturday. "Given that this was a Red Wave year in Suffolk County, the fact that we nearly won a seat that has been held by Republicans for over 50 years speaks volumes to the incredible campaign we ran and the dedication and commitment of our supporters who helped us raise over $200,000, send over 800,000 text messages and make over 45,000 calls for our campaign.

"I ran for this office to provide a voice for the thousands who felt disrespected by our politicians up in Albany and wanted to see our interests prioritized and protected. I ran to provide hope to the residents of Northport and East Northport that we didn’t have to settle for LIPA’s extortion and greed. I ran to provide leadership in this pandemic and to secure for our district the critical state funding that we’ve been deprived of for so long. I will continue to do that, whether in or out of office, as I did after 2018, when I wrote the Gaughran Amendment which fundamentally changed the game for us on LIPA. I will never quit fighting for you.

"I want to also express my genuine gratitude to the outpouring of support our campaign has received throughout this process from my thousands of volunteers, donors, and supporters. It’s been a long race, and I’m proud of everything we have achieved along the way, from mobilizing the community to fight against the LIPA lawsuit to procuring and distributing over 180,000 masks to hospitals, nursing homes, local municipalities, police and fire departments, and other organizations in the district. From the beginning, my goal was to fight for working families and to protect our community, and I’m proud of the race we ran and can confidently say we never lost sight of that goal.

"Though my campaign has concluded, my advocacy and love for this district has not. I am not going anywhere and I will continue to fight for Long Island."

The seat was last held by Republican Andrew Raia before his retirement from the state assembly. Raia now serves as Huntington town clerk.

The 12th Assembly District covers Northport, East Northport, Centerport, Eaton's Neck, Asharoken and portions of Fort Salonga, Halesite, Greenlawn, Commack, Elwood, Dix Hills, Deer Park, and North Bay Shore.