by David Flint
Roy McDonald easily won his bid for the Republican nomination to replace Joseph Bruno as New York State Senator for the 43rd District, taking 83% of the vote in Rensselaer County. In the Eastwick Press area he did even a bit better than that in three of our towns, with 95% in Berlin, 90% in Grafton and 89% in Petersburgh.
McDonald will face Michael A. Russo who served as District Manager for U.S. Representative Kirsten Gillibrand. In the Democratic primary Russo beat out Brunswick lawyer Brian Premo in Rensselaer County with a margin of 57% to 43%. Eastern county results generally reflect that margin with the notable exception of the towns of Grafton and Hoosick where Premo was the victor winning by 18 and 6 percentage points respectively.
Tony Jordan, who was the choice of the Republican Party leadership to replace McDonald as representative of the 112th Assembly District, won the Republican Primary election against Chris Laing, a builder and developer from Northumberland. Jordan, a partner in a Greenwich law firm, won overwhelmingly in Washington County and took 67% of the Rensselaer County vote. He did not do as well in Grafton, Petersburgh or Stephentown where Laing spent a lot of time in door to door campaigning and defeated Jordan with 47%, 52% and 46% respectively.
Senate Results
Republican Senate 43rd Democrat Senate 43rd
Seney McDonald Russo Premo
Berlin 3 59 15 13
Grafton 10 93 28 31
Hoosick 32 151 43 61
Petersburgh 5 42 25 12
Stephentown 15 63 38 31
Rensselaer Cnty 617 2914 2473 1873