By Dan Murphy
The biggest political surprise in the Westchester elections of 2021 came in the County Board of Legislators race in the 10th District, (Eastchester and New Rochelle), with incumbent democrat, Legislator Damon Maher, holding on to a slim, 139 vote lead over republican first-time candidate Anthony Giacobbe.
This reporter likes to highlight the races that political observers from both parties believe are the most competitive, and the ones to watch. And not one of my contacts picked the Maher-Giacobbe race as one to watch.
Giacobbe has yet to concede defeat, with about 650 absentee and paper ballots to be counted at the Board of Elections on Nov. 16 to determine the winner. “Right now, I’m down 139 votes, so let’s wait for the final tally. I’m confident that we received a lot of support from democrats and independents on Election Day.”
While Giacobbe admitted that “everyone thought there was no way a republican could win this district again after Damon (Maher) won is by 1800 votes two years ago, but I campaigned hard, and went door to door every day, hearing the people’s concerns. I have a young family and I want to stay here and make sure that Westchester is still a place where the younger generation and seniors can afford to live. That is coming away from us.”
Giacobbe has three generations of his family in the district. He grew up in the New Rochelle part of the 10th District, and his parents and grandparents raised him and ran a small business in the city. He now lives in Eastchester. “I never thought I would run for office, but I’m running because I had to. I come with a background in finance, and I wanted to serve on the county board to look at the budget.
The voters appreciated that I’m not a politician, and it went a long way. I grew up in New Rochelle and my parents and grandparents worked in New Rochelle for 50 years.
One issue that appeared on Giacobbe’s campaign Facebook page was the Westchester County Airport and the flights that were coming in the middle of the night with migrants crossing the border from Mexico. “The airport was an issue that I didn’t want to campaign on, but the democrats kept it hidden for months until somebody told us about it.”
“I spent two weeks at the airport at 230 in the morning to find out what was going on. I did my own investigation and followed the buses leaving the airport that went to Somers and Port Chester and White Plains. I wanted to talk about other Westchester issues, but it fell in my lap, and it didn’t go away.”
“I was also surprised that not one county legislator ever spoke about it, including Legislator Cunzio (who ran on the conservative line),” said Giacobbe, who also challenged the claim by County Executive George Latimer that he was unaware of the flights until it came to light in the media.
“The county police were there for months watching the flights come in, so there is no way that George (Latimer) did know about it. He could have made it go away by saying that there is nothing that I can do about it because it’s a federal issue and the federal government are sending in these flights to Westchester. He could have easily put it to bed. Thousands of Westchester residents were concerned about it,” said Giacobbe.
Giacobbe also called for sales tax relief. “With so many small businesses struggling maybe it’s time to look at sales tax savings to compete with the internet. There is a county north of Westchester proposing to eliminate sales tax on clothing and footwear purchases up to $110. I am looking forward to bringing new ideas like this to the table so we can stimulate local businesses and save residents money at the same time.”
Giacobbe says after the absentee ballots are counted, win or lose, he plans on staying involved and running for office again. “Voters liked the truth, and I’m someone who has a young family and wants to live here for 30 years. The response to my message was good, so that in the future I plan on being on the ballot somewhere, in two years in this race or another race. I don’t plan on going away.”
Giacobbe also said that the republican party in Westchester does have a future. “I think that he low turnout from this election showed that the democrats weren’t excited enough to come out and take advantage of their enrollment edge. I think if we focus on republicans and independents in Westchester, the republican party can win.”
“Another big problem for the democratic party is that they are going too far left. Just like some in the republican party have gone too far right. Most people are somewhere in the middle and they don’t want far left or far right politics in their lives. They don’t want to defund the police. Today’s democratic party isn’t the party that my parents and grandparents were a part of, and the vote totals show that.
Westchester County has 319,753 registered democrats. Latimer received 97,753 votes, which came from democrats but also independents, working families party members and republicans. “With a higher republican turnout, any seat is winnable,” said Giacobbe, who campaigned with Eastchester Supervisor Tony Colavita during this election, adding that it helped both. “I worked closely with Tony for the last 8 months, and I hope that I helped him bring out a younger generation of voters, just like he helped me. Win or lose, this was a good election and a learning experience for me.”
