Across the country, voters watched intently Tuesday night as results trickled in for one of the most contentious, and polarizing, presidential races in modern history.
The race between Republican Donald Trump and Democratic Kamala Harris underscored a political division simmering for years across the country. By Wednesday morning, the Associated Press called the presidential race in Trump's favor after he won the key states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, with a combined 29 electoral votes to clinch the 270 necessary to win the presidency.
Meanwhile, Republicans retook control of the Senate, flipping seats in Ohio and West Virginia to regain a majority by midnight Tuesday.
Top House races are focused in New York and California, where Democrats are trying to claw back some of the 10 or so seats where Republicans have made surprising gains in recent years.
But closer to home, Republicans failed to reflect that national momentum. A strong showing of Democrats at the polls in Monroe County easily sent all incumbent state and federal representatives representing the Rochester region into new terms in office, according to unofficial results.
In the race for the 25th Congressional District, Rep. Joseph Morelle handily won a fourth term in office, beating out Republican businessman Gregg Sadwick by about 20 points. Similar trends could be seen in all of the local state races.
“The people in this community, Monroe County, Ontario County, went to the polls over the last 10 days and made their voices heard, and made their choice,” Morelle said. “It really is important; nobody knows better what’s happening in the community than local legislators.”
Sadwick was optimistic early in the evening Tuesday but said that he believed disdain towards the presidential election may have dissuaded people from coming out to the polls.
“I think people really hated Trump and hated Kamala, and I think that that that's causing some people to stay home,” Sadwick said. “Quite frankly, the top of the ticket carries a lot of weight, down ballot.”
The Monroe County Board of Elections had projected that about 74% of registered voters cast a ballot, either on Election Day, in early voting, or through a mail-in ballot. That figure is similar to turnout in the 2020 election.
In the U.S. Senate, Kirsten Gillibrand also handily took home a win for a third term, defeating Republican Michael Sapraicone by about 20 points.
In the state Assembly and Senate races, unofficial results show that every Democratic incumbent enjoyed a comfortable victory:
- In the 55th Senate District, Samra Brouk defeated Luis Martinez, 61% to 39%.
- In the 56th Senate District, Jeremy Cooney defeated Jim VanBrederode, 58% to 41%.
- In the 135th Assembly District, Jen Lunsford defeated Kimberly DeRosa, 58% to 42%.
- In the 136th Assembly District, Sarah Clark defeated Orlando Rivera, 67% to 33%.
- In the 137th Assembly District, Demond Meeks defeated Marcus Williams, 71% to 29%.
- In the 138th Assembly District, Harry Bronson defeated Tracy DiFlorio, 61% to 39%.
Several of those races were repeats of 2022's contests. VanBrederode, for example, previously challenged Cooney two years ago. That year, he garnered 45% of the vote.
VanBrederode, the former Gates police chief, had largely run on a campaign against crime and for the repeal of criminal justice reforms, like the Bail Elimination Act of 2019. His tough-on-crime messaging even enlisted "America’s Most Wanted" host John Walsh for political ads.
VanBrederode, upon realizing his defeat, questioned if his priorities and those of the electorate were at odds.
“I thought it was going to be different this year,” VanBrederode said. “This is looking just like 2022 was, and I'm not sure if it's all about the abortion rights that everyone's voting on.”
DiFlorio, Williams, and Rivera all had challenged their respective incumbents in 2022, with very similar results to this year's races.
The juxtaposition of these state and congressional races in a solid blue county in a solid blue state underpins the change, and galvanizing, of partisan politics. Nationwide, Republicans are gaining ground and Trump appeared to be on track to take the presidency as of early Wednesday.
But in Monroe County, Republicans have consistently lost ground for decades. Twenty-five years ago, they had outnumbered Democrats. Now, they are outnumbered by voters who aren’t affiliated with any party and outnumbered by Democrats by nearly 80,000 voters.
Meeks, in commenting on the presidential election, said he believes hard divisions between average Republican and Democrat voters ultimately benefit those in power.
“I think that we have to realize what we're really up against,” Meeks said. “There's been a practice for so long where the ultra-rich, and I'm not talking about the millionaires, I'm talking about that Elon Musk, the ultra-rich, the multi-billionaires, have literally taken the cookies off the cookie tray and convinced us, as a people, that we must fight over the crumbs, and then we focus on our differences, and we let them pit us against each other.”
This story includes reporting by the Associated Press.
