by David Flint
Although Governor Andrew Cuomo survived Tuesday’s Democratic Primary with a 61-35 percent margin statewide, voters in the six Eastwick towns gave the Governor a resounding message of no confidence. [private]Based on unofficial results posted by the county Boards of Elections, about two thirds, or 67%, wanted to replace the Governor with Zephyr Teachout. Seventy-two percent of the voters also preferred Timothy Wu to the Governor’s selected running mate, Kathy Hochul.
The margins against Cuomo were even higher in some of the towns. Teachout took 71% of the vote in Stephentown, 73% in New Lebanon and 77% in Petersburgh. Cuomo did best in Hoosick where he received 37% of the vote.
Voter turnout of course was quite low as it normally is in a primary election. Stephentown with 89 had the highest number of voters in the Eastwick area. That’s about 20% of the registered Democrats in the Town. It’s about 10% of the voters of all parties that turned out for the election of local officials last November, but it’s on par with previous Democratic primaries. The turnout in other towns ranged from 18 voters in Berlin to 67 in Hoosick.
The Eastwick vote generally reflects results elsewhere in the Capital District. In Rensselaer County as a whole 63% of the Democrat voters went for Teachout. In Albany County it was 62%. Columbia County Democrats were even stronger with their message, voting 78% for Teachout, 77% for Wu.
Comedian Randy Credico, running for nomination for Governor, received about 4% of the vote in the Eastwick area, just as he did in Rensselaer County and statewide.
Andrew White, Stephentown Democratic Committee Chairman, said he believes there was a variety of reasons that voters supported Teachout and Wu even in the face of the facts that not many people really knew much about the challengers and that they had only waged a two month campaign. Among those who have been upset with Cuomo lately he listed gun owners and state workers. One of the state worker unions, PEF, actually ended up endorsing Teachout. White said many Democrats were also upset about the Governor reneging on his promises to reform redistricting, campaign finance and ethics. The abortion of the Moreland Commission turned a lot of Democrats off, he said. White said that he was himself pleased to see that Teachout, a person he has long known and respected, did as well as she did. He had hoped, however, to see Cuomo’s statewide approval down below 60%.[/private]