NY Sen. Kaplan Declares Victory; GOP Opponent Franklin Disagrees

PORT WASHINGTON, NY — Americans woke up Wednesday morning not knowing the results in numerous elections nationwide — including who their president will be in 2021. That uncertainty found its way to New York State Senate District 7, where incumbent Democratic state Sen. Anna Kaplan of Great Neck declared victory, while Republican challenger Dave Franklin urged voters to wait for the more-than 30,000 outstanding absentee and write-in votes to be counted.

As Patch previously reported, Kaplan held a slim lead over Franklin on Wednesday morning with about 61,000 votes to Franklin's roughly 57,000.

Around 12:45 a.m. Wednesday, Kaplan declared victory, though the race had not been officially called and no media outlets had projected a winner.

"Senator Kaplan is the first Democrat in history to earn re-election to the historically Republican seat," Kaplan said in a statement.

She added that as a former political refugee, winning election she was honored and humbled that voters re-elected her.

"As we move forward, it's more important than ever that our community comes together so that we can address the challenges we face due to the coronavirus pandemic, and I look forward to continuing that work on behalf of Long Island families and small businesses across New York State," Kaplan said.

But Franklin noted in a statement posted to his campaign's Facebook page that thousands of votes remain uncounted. He did not concede defeat.

"While my opponent has chosen to declare victory I will remind her that there are still 30,000+ absentee and write-in votes to be counted and i have yet to concede," Franklin said. "This is not sour grapes, this is the process. We owe it to our voters to complete the process, and I'm guessing that if the situation was reversed my opponent would do the same thing.....stay tuned."

At the national level, President Donald Trump, asserting false accusations of rampant election fraud, prematurely declared victory over former Vice President Joe Biden, even as millions of votes remained uncounted in key battleground states. The president also threatened to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and order a halt to vote-counting.

"We want all voting to stop," Trump said. "We don't want them to find any ballots at 4 o'clock in the morning and add them to the list, okay?"