New Castle Dems Retain Control; Hold Off on Claiming Victory
New Castle Democrats were expected to sweep Tuesday night, but as it turned out the town’s first contested election in 16 years was anything but a slam dunk.
With 14 out of 16 voting districts reporting, Democratic supervisor candidate Susan Carpenter was leading Republican challenger Robert Kirkwood, 1,675-1,576.
Deputy Supervisor Elise Kessler Mottel led all town board candidates with 1,668 votes. Fellow Democrat Jason Chapin was expected to join her on the town board after garnering 1,550 votes. Republican Richard Diefenbach tallied 1,433 votes while independent Robert Greenstein trailed with 972.
Kirkwood and Diefenbach decided not to concede until results from all districts have been reported. The Democrats also are waiting to claim victory.
The referendum to split New Castle into six different wards was heavily defeated, with 71 percent of residents voting no. The West End of New Castle was the only district to support the ward.
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/