Trump Factor, Guns, & the Blue Wave
The results of the elections in Westchester County in 2019 had both republicans and democrats satisfied, but looking for more successes in the years to come. Republicans were happy with the results in the towns of Harrison, Eastchester and Yorktown, where they held onto the supervisor’s seat in Harrison (Ron Belmont) and Eastchester (Tony Colavita), and took over the supervisor’s seat in Yorktown with Matt Slater’s victory.
Democrats were happy with the results for the County Board of Legislators, winning the three contests that were most competitive. Democrat Ruth Walter defeated incumbent Legislator Gordon Burrows in the 15th district (Bronxville and parts of Yonkers) and Legislator Damon Maher handily beat republican Chris Garitee in the 10th district (Eastchester and parts of New Rochelle) 57 to 43 percent.
The election results now give democrats an insurmountable 15-2 majority on the county board.
County Executive George Latimer summed up the results on social media, writing: “A 15-2 BOL? Beyond belief. Now, in three straight years – 2017, 2018, 2019 – what was unthinkable has become real. The voters have given their support to Democrats nearly everywhere. The GOP has its remaining strongholds – Harrison , Mt. Pleasant, Eastchester, Yorktown, Pelham Manor, a few other places. But the towns and cities that have become Democratic are everywhere. Greenburgh. White Plains. Ossining. Mamk Town. Scarsdale. New Rochelle. Mt. Vernon. Mt. Kisco. And… Places unexpectedly electing Ds include Lewisboro, Pound Ridge, Bedford, Peekskill, in the places no one ever thought we could win.”
One democrat from southern Westchester asked, “Can the republicans stop the Trump tsunami?” In New Rochelle, Maher sent out a mailing tying republican Chris Garitee to Trump.
But in Yorktown, republicans were able to tie democratic Supervisor Lanny Gilbert to the debate over police cooperation with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
“Residents in Yorktown want their local police to cooperate with ICE and when an illegal immigrant is arrested and charged with a crime, they want ICE to come and detain them,” said a Yorktown republican. “We were able to tie Gilbert with the Immigrant Protection Act, which is not popular here.”
Another issue that is popular in southern Westchester but may be less amenable in northern Westchester is gun control. In the Burrows-Walter county board race in Bronxville-Yonkers, Walter used the issue to highlight her desire to increase gun safety measures and her initiatives to keep guns out of criminal repeat offenders.
Walter also challenged Burrows’ record on guns, including the endorsement he received from the Westchester County Firearm Owners Association in 2013, and the fact that Burrows did not support the end of the gun show at the County Center.
Burrows did not comment on the issue of gun control, but one group that did was the same Westchester County Firearm Owners Association that wrote a lengthy response to our story on Walter challenging Burrows on gun control. (Read this story on YonkersTimes.com in its own post).
Political observers are still trying to figure out how election 2019 differed from election 2017 in Westchester. In 2017, some republicans called the “blue wave” election the worst day for the county GOP. Former County Legislator and republican leader Jim Maisano said about the election of 2017 two years ago:
“We lost the county executive’s office and we lost the bipartisan coalition that was running the Board of Legislators and we didn’t even lose it on the issues, we lost it on an anti-Trump tidal wave. As long as Trump is the president and he’s this unpopular in Westchester, it looks like Republicans are going to have a very tough time getting elected.”
Now, two years later, the debate still goes on, with some republicans still not believing that President Donald Trump is hurting the GOP in Westchester.
In 2017, then-County Executive Rob Astorino lost re-election to a third term to George Latimer by 14 points, and across the county, republicans lost races that most everyone thought they would win. In 2018, State Sen. Terrence Murphy lost his re-election bid to democrat Peter Harckham.
Editor’s Note: The race for County Legislator in the 15th District between democrat Ruth Walter and republican Gordon Burrows came down to the counting of absentee and affidavit (paper) ballots. In the end, Walter hang on to her narrow victory, defeating Burrows by 70 votes.
