Nassau County NY Assembly Election Results: Single Race Called

REAL-TIME LIVE ELECTION RESULTS UPDATED: 8:24 a.m. Wednesday

NASSAU COUNTY, NY — Vote totals in Nassau County continued trickling in Wednesday morning as voters eagerly awaited the results of the 2020 election, which featured races for president, Congress and the state Legislature. The election — a referendum on President Donald Trump's first term in office — featured unprecedented early voting turnout, which Democrats hoped signaled a coming blue wave that would propel former Vice President Joe Biden to victory.

Media outlets projected around 9 p.m. that Biden won New York. In Nassau County, Republicans were leading Democrats in seven of the 11 races early Wednesday. Just one race was called Wednesday morning: The New York Times projected Democrat Taylor Darling would win District 18, defeating Republican Cherice Vanderhall. Darling held a massive lead of roughly 30,000 votes.

Assembly districts 9, 15, 16, 20 and 21 were some of the key races to watch Tuesday.

Democrat Ann Brancato was trailing Republican Michael Durso by a large margin in District 9, while Democrat Joe Sackman was trailing incumbent Republican Michael Montesano by a wide margin. In District 16, Democrat Gina Sillitti was trailing Republican Ragini Srivastava in a close race, and in District 20, Democrat Gregory Marks was trailing incumbent Republican Melissa Miller by a wide margin. Incumbent Democrat Judy Griffin, meanwhile, held a slim lead over Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick in District 21.

Scroll to the bottom to see real-time election results. Find the results of all local races on our Long Island Election Hub.

Nassau County voters turned out early in droves, following a pattern seen nationwide. More than 144,000 absentee ballots were requested by Republicans and Democrats in Nassau, a spokeswoman for the county Board of Elections told Patch on Friday afternoon. About 99,000 of those were requested by registered Democrats and about 45,000 by registered Republicans

About 93,000 absentee ballots were returned: about 65,000 from registered Democrats and 28,000 from registered Republicans, the Board of Elections said.

About 171,000 people in Nassau voted early, including about 82,000 registered Democrats and 48,800 registered Republicans.

While there was no early voting in 2016, the spokeswoman said the number of absentee ballots requested and returned in 2020 has been "tremendously" larger. In 2016, about 48,000 absentee ballots were cast in all in Nassau County.

All 150 seats in the New York Assembly are up for election in 2020. That includes the following in Nassau County:

• District 9: Michael LiPetri (R)
• District 13: Charles Lavine (D)
• District 14: Dave McDonough (R)
• District 15: Michael Montesano (R)
• District 16: Anthony D'Urso (D)
• District 17: John Mikulin (R)
• District 18: Taylor Darling (D)
• District 19: Ed Ra (R)
• District 20: Melissa Miller (R)
• District 21: Judy Griffin (D)
• District 22: Michaelle Solanges (D)

Nassau Assembly Races To Watch

Two closely watched elections will be districts 9 and 16, where the incumbents aren't seeking re-election.

Republican Michael LiPetri currently occupies Assembly District 9, which covers parts of Nassau and Suffolk counties, including South Farmingdale and Massapequa. LiPetri is not seeking re-election for Assembly, and instead launched an unsuccessful primary bid this year against fellow Republican Andrew Garbarino to fill the seat currently occupied by longtime U.S. Rep. Pete King.

Now, Michael Durso, the current sanitation supervisor for the Town of Oyster Bay, hopes to fend off a possible blue wave and keep LiPetri's seat under Republican control. He'll face Ann Brancato, a Democrat who has worked as a healthcare/human services executive and served as president of a job development and recruitment agency. Brancato was also previously appointed to a New York City Community Planning Board.

In District 16, Democrat Anthony D'Urso made a surprise announcement in February that he would not seek re-election. The district includes the communities of Port Washington, Manhasset, Great Neck, North Hills, East Hills, Old Westbury, Roslyn Heights, Herricks and Lake Success.

Democrats nominated longtime government worker Gina Sillitti to succeed him and keep the seat under Democratic control. She'll face Republican businesswoman Ragini Srivastava, a businesswoman who has served on the Nassau County Comptroller's Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise Council. Libertarian Blay Tarnoff is also running as a third-party candidate.

District 15 will also be worth watching Tuesday. Incumbent Republican Michael Montesano has held the seat since winning a special election in 2010. Montesano won re-election in 2012 with 60 percent of the vote, then again in 2014 with 67 percent. In the last two elections, however, Montesano's winning margin shrunk considerably to 55 percent in 2016 and 53 percent in 2018, coinciding with Trump's presidential election and subsequent mid-term referendum. Challenger Joe Sackman III hopes to use that momentum to flip the seat from GOP to Democrat.

And in District 20, Democrats hope challenger Gregory Marks will be able to defeat incumbent Republican Melissa Miller, who won election in 2016 with 52 percent of the vote and again two years later with 53 percent.

District 21, meanwhile, saw the seat flip from reliably Republican to Democrat two years ago with the election of Judy Griffin over then-incumbent Republican Brian Curran. Griffin won with 53 percent of the vote that year. Republicans hope to regain control of the seat this year and pinned their hopes to Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick.

Democratic Trifecta

In New York, Democrats have a state government trifecta, holding control over the governorship and the Legislature, the lawmaking branch made up of the Senate and Assembly. The Senate has 63 seats and the Assembly has 150. Members are elected from districts and serve two-year terms.

Two years ago, Democrats improved their super-majority in the Assembly to 106-43, with one independent.

But on Long Island, the Assembly seats are far more split: Republicans currently control six of the 11 seats in Nassau County. In Suffolk, the GOP controlled seven of 12 until early January, when Assemblyman Andrew Raia left office to be sworn in as the Huntington town clerk.

In the New York State Senate, all 63 seats are up for election this year. Democrats took a firm grip over the Senate two years ago amid the nation's first so-called "blue wave" following Trump's election. In that election, New York Democrats snatched a net of six Senate seats to increase their majority to 40-23, up from 32-31.

On Long Island, Democrats control all five Senate seats in Nassau, while Republicans control three of six seats in Suffolk.

Unofficial Real-Time Election Results

(* incumbent)

District 9

• Ann Brancato (D): 7,295 (Nassau) 10,715 (Suffolk)
• Michael Durso (R): 17,514 (Nassau) 20,286 (Suffolk)

District 13

• Charles Lavine* (D): 26,065
• Andrew Monteleone (R): 19,419

District 14

• Kevin Gorman (D): 20,662
• Dave McDonough* (R): 38,294
• Jake Gutowitz (L): 462

District 15

• Joe Sackman (D): 20,104
• Michael Montesano* (R): 31,708

District 16

• Gina Sillitti (D): 21,343
• Ragini Srivastava (R): 24,831
• Blay Tarnoff (L): 207

District 17

• Mark Engelman (D): 18,756
• John Mikulin* (R): 35,120

District 18

• Taylor Darling* (D): 30,406 (Winner)
• Cherice Vanderhall (R): 5,782

District 19

• Gary Port (D): 18,810
• Ed Ra* (R): 33,177

District 20

• Gregory Marks (D): 17,975
• Melissa Miller* (R): 32,576

District 21

• Judy Griffin* (D): 27,069
• Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick (R): 27,516
• Barry Leon (L): 351

District 22

• Michaelle Solages* (D): 33,747
• Nicholas Zacchea (R): 17,546