Burdick Wins 93rd Assembly District Democratic Primary; Abinanti on Way to Victory
Bedford Supervisor Chris Burdick captured the Democratic primary in the 93rd Assembly District, edging Chappaqua attorney Kristen Browde by 347 votes in the five-candidate race.
The count was completed late Saturday afternoon, shortly beore Browde announced on her Facebook page that she congratulated Burdick on his victory.
According to the unofficial tallies, Burdick totaled 4,879 votes to Browde’s 4,532. Following the early voting and in-person voting on June 23, Burdick led by 195 votes, and added to his margin after Westchester County Board of Elections finished counting the 8,767 absentee ballots.
They were followed by Jeremiah Frei-Pearson (2,748), Alex Roithmayr (1,211) and Mark Jaffe (1,078).
Burdick, who has served as supervisor since 2014 and has been on the Bedford Town Board since 2008, said he learned of victory from a text from Browde. He said having held elected office, a record of accomplishment, endorsements from officials in neighboring towns and a great team helped him to victory.
“I do feel that the electorate responded favorably to the fact that I do have experience as an elected official,” Burdick said. “I do think that that did matter to the electorate and I think they felt that my record of accomplishment was real and that they felt was significant.”
Burdick will be a prohibitive favorite in November to defeat Republican John Nuculovic, a fellow Bedford resident who was easily defeated by outgoing Assemblyman David Buchwald in the predominantly Democratic district in 2018.
Burdick said he wasn’t taking the race for granted.
“I’m running against a candidate who’s run before and this is an open seat and he’s run in a general election before and I, obviously, have not run in a general election for the seat before,” he said. “So I take nothing for granted and I will be working tirelessly to get elected in November.”
Browde thanked her supporters for helping her in the race and congratulated Burdick and the other opponent in the race.
“While this isn’t the result I’d hoped for, we all know that we have a lot more to do this election cycle…and every election cycle,” Browde stated on her Facebook page “And that we’re all in this together.”
The 93rd Assembly District stretches from a portion of White Plains and includes Harrison, North Castle, New Castle, Mount Kisco, Bedford, Lewisboro, Pound Ridge and North Salem.
Abinanti Moves Closer to Victory
In the 92nd Assembly District race, five-term incumbent Thomas Abinanti has put distance between himself and challenger Jennifer Williams.
Abinanti has opened up a 1,729-vote lead after all but about 2,900 of the more than 12,000 absentee ballots were tallied. After in-person and early voting, Abinanti held a razor-thin 25-vote advantage but has received 60 percent of the absentee ballot votes.
The remaining ballots that have yet to be counted are from 19 election districts in Hastings-on-Hudson, Ardsley, Hartsdale and Edgemont, all in the 16th Congressional District. Those ballots have been impounded because Rep. Eliot Engel, who is trailing his primary challenger Jamaal Bowman, is suing the New York City and Westchester County Boards of Elections in hopes of recanvassing the absentee ballots. Engel trails Bowman by about 10,000 votes with 40,000 absentee ballots to be counted.
Abinanti said the two sides in that race were due back in state Supreme Court in the Bronx on Monday, although there was no word by late in the day.
“We’re expecting it’s going to be Monday,” Abinanti said of a decision in his race. “The Board of Elections is planning on counting this on Monday but it’s going to be up to the judge in the Bronx as to exactly when they’re going to do it.”
There have been no final results from the Board of Elections in the Westchester District Attorney primary, with challenger Mimi Rocah leading incumbent Anthony Scarpino by more than a 2-to-1 margin. Close to 60,000 absentee ballots needed to be counted countywide.
Similarly, there has been no official call in the Democratic 17th Congressional District primary. Mondaire Jones has a more than 7,000-vote lead over Adam Schleifer.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/