A Link to Complete Election Results is Below
A long, divisive election season is over but sadly the online bickering will continue for the foreseeable future.
The fledgling SAM party didn’t do as well as they had hoped however there were some races that were closer than expected and others where candidates who were on the SAM line won. In the Legislative District 17 race, the SAM line made all of the difference as James Foley was victorious over incumbent Nancy Low-Hogan.
The SAM party will undoubtedly learn from this experience, hone their message and will be back in 2020.
If you’re apt to point fingers, point the finger toward voter apathy. Rockland County has more that 181,000 registered voters. Only 35.46% of those registered even bothered to cast a ballot.
Redistricting is and will remain an issue. Residents from across Rockland County must make their voices heard and must remain engaged. Elected representatives in theory, work for the people. Hold them accountable regardless of party affiliation. People before Party.
The other most watched race was that for Rockland County District attorney. Accusations flew in the past few weeks; amongst them was the claim that Rockland would be doomed if Judge Walsh won the race because he attracted the support of the bloc vote.
The truth of the matter is that Walsh also had the Democratic, Republican and Conservative lines and enjoyed overwhelming support from law enforcement organizations.
In the end, the bloc vote didn’t come close to deciding this race. Even if Diederich had the support of the bloc, he still would have come up thousands of votes short.
Judge Walsh received 44,585 votes, of that total, approximately 22% came from the bloc while 78% came from Democrats, Republicans, Conservatives, Independents and endorsements by law enforcement organizations. With these kinds of numbers, Judge Walsh isn’t beholden to any one group. A District Attorney doesn’t write the laws, a DA and their office should examine at the facts and evidence of each case, convene grand juries when necessary and apply the law equally to all. I believe that Judge Walsh will apply the law to everyone equally regardless of who defendants are, where they live, where they are from, their gender and/or gender identity, the color of their skin, how they love or how they choose to worship-or not.
The biggest issue facing Rockland County this morning is how to heal the divide in order to move forward in a constructive fashion.
