Staten Island Republican Dan Donovan fails to achieve a “Signal Victory” — Virtually assures a hard fought and well-funded Democratic challenge to Donovan in 2016
Brooklyn Democrat Vincent Gentile’s very underfunded campaign succeeds in making the contest competitive
According to a late 5/5/15 report in the Staten Island Advance, Dan Donovan defeated his rivals Vinnie Gentile and James Lane in what turned out to be a more competitive Special Election for Congress than previously expected. “With all of the Election Districts reporting, 39,875 votes were counted in the congressional race. Donovan bested Gentile, 58.7 – 39.4 percent, according to the state Board of Elections. Lane garnered 1.3 percent of the vote...” ( See “Special Election 2015: Vote results in race for Congress” by Staten Island Advance Staff, 5/5/15 [updated at 11:31 PM EDT], SI Advance/ silive.com [http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/05/special_election_2015_vote_res.html]). The terse report by CBS News New York is as follows: “... Voters picked Republican Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan Tuesday night to replace former Congressman Michael Grimm. *** Donovan gained national attention when the grand jury he impaneled did not indict NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner ( See “DA Dan Donovan Wins Special Election To Replace Michael Grimm In Congress” by CBS News Staff, 5/5/15 [11:44 PM EDT], CBS News /Local [http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2015/05/05/staten-island-special-election-michael-grimm/]).
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The Special Election results in the 11th C.D. as reported in the SI Advance are as follows:
Donovan -- 23,409 votes (58.71%)
Republican -- 18,005
Conservative -- 4,045
Independence -- 1,359
Gentile -- 15,808 votes (39.64%)
Democratic -- 14,418
Working Families -- 1,390
Lane -- 527 votes (1.32%)
Green -- 527
Other votes
-- 19 blank
-- 18 voided
-- 94 write-ins
The can-do campaign by “Vinnie” Gentile made this a much more competitive race than many expected before Tuesday, May 5th 2015. Others have said that the Donovan Campaign was not as effective as it could have been.
The 2015 Special Election looks like it might be a real table-setter for several races in 2016.
EDITORIAL MOVE: THE "IT REALLY BELONGS HERE" EDITION
ReplyDeleteThe following comment has been moved from another thread, where it did not address the subject matter. On the other hand, it seems to relate to the above post.
"Anonymous
Gentile did better than Recchia.
[Originally posted] May 5, 2015 at 7:53 PM [on the thread to the post below this one]
BACKFILL: THE “COMPARISON” EDITION
ReplyDeleteIN FACT, BROOKLYN DEMOCRAT VINNIE GENTILE RAN SLIGHTLY BEHIND BROOKLYN DEMOCRAT DOMENIC RECCHIA — HOWEVER, THE RECCHIA CAMPAIGN HAD ABOUT TWENTY TIMES (20X) THE RESOURCES AS GENTILE’S FOLKS --- AND THE RECCHIA DEMOCRATS OUTSPENT THE GRIMM REPUBLICANS BY A HUGE FACTOR IN 2014
After the 2014 General Election the Staten Island Advance reported this: “Six months after being indicted in federal charges and seeing his political future put in doubt, GOP Rep. Michael Grimm on Tuesday swamped Democratic challenger Domenic M. Recchia. Jr. *** With 100 percent of the vote in, Grimm beat Recchia 55.4 to 42.1 percent, according to the Associated Press. *** Green Party candidate Henry Bardel got 2.5 percent....” (See “His biggest win: Rep. Michael Grimm swamps Domenic Recchia, 55 to 42 percent” by Tom Wrobleski, 11/5/14, SI Advance [http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/11/his_biggest_win_rep_michael_gr.html]).
The Wrobleski report went on to state that “... [t]he percentage was the biggest win of Grimm's three elections....”
Gentile did much better than Recchia in Brooklyn but got absolutely crushed on Staten Island by a 2-1 margin. I think he got a third of the vote out there.
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