East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez was apparently re-elected by a wide margin on Tuesday, prevailing over a write-in campaign for East Hampton Mayor Jerry Larsen, who had challenged her in a Democratic Party primary election in June.
With 15 of 19 districts reporting, unofficial results from the Suffolk County Board of Elections had Ms. Burke-Gonzalez, on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines, winning 5,990 votes, or 73 percent, against 2,216 write-in votes, or 27 percent.
There was no Republican challenger to Ms. Burke-Gonzalez, who was elected supervisor in 2023 after serving on the town board for 10 years.
"Serving the community has been the greatest honor of my life,” Ms. Burke-Gonzalez told supporters at Rowdy Hall in Amagansett, where Democrats gathered to monitor the election returns. Running in three elections in 12 years has been a challenge, she said. "Someone asked me what I’m going to do after the election. I said I’m going to sleep for a week."
Standing alongside her colleagues on the town board including Councilwoman Cate Rogers and Councilmen David Lys and Ian Calder-Piedmonte, she thanked Democratic committee members, volunteers, and her family, “my rock and my support.”
"Let's go blue wave!" Mr. Lys shouted.
Ms. Burke-Gonzalez's re-election comes amid what increasingly appears, as of Tuesday night, to be a nationwide rebuke of Republican candidates in a midterm election for which an unpopular President Trump exhorted voters to "pretend I'm on the ballot." The New York Times forecasts Democratic control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
"It’s going to be a blowout for Democrats,” Michael Koegler, chairman of the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee, said at Rowdy Hall. “I kind of suspected it would be, but you don’t want to get over the tips of your skis.”
"The people are fed up, as they should be," he added.
Shortly after 10 p.m., the restaurant erupted in cheers as CNN predicted that Democrats would claim a majority in the House of Representatives, as was widely expected.
In the State Legislature, Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni was apparently re-elected. With 77 of 87 election districts reporting, Mr. Schiavoni, a Democrat and former Southampton Town Councilman who was elected to the Assembly two years ago, led his Republican challenger, Stephen Kiely, with 27,519 votes, or 62.73 percent, to Mr. Kiely's 16,333 votes, or 37.23 percent.
In the State Senate, however, the Republican incumbent, Senator Anthony Palumbo, trailed his Democratic opponent, E. Christopher Murray. With 179 of 214 election districts reporting, Mr. Murray had 51.8 percent, to Mr. Palumbo's 48.2 percent. The race was too close to call at 11:15.
At Rowdy Hall, all eyes were on the returns in New York's First Congressional District, where an early lead for Christopher Gallant, the Democratic nominee, over the Republican incumbent, Representative Nick LaLota, narrowed as more election districts' totals were tallied. With 521 of 561 election districts reporting, Mr. LaLota had opened a lead of 51 percent to Mr. Gallant's 48.9 percent.
Soon after polls closed at 9 p.m., the Associated Press declared New York Gov. Kathy Hochul the winner in her re-election campaign, holding off a challenge by Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.
"We expect it will be a record for Democratic turnout for a midterm," Mr. Koegler said.
