Democrats Goosby, Troiano reclaim seats

Shortly before 11 p.m. on Election Night, County Executive Ed Mangano took the podium at Republican Party headquarters in Westbury and declared victory.

Mangano, a Republican from Bethpage, held an 18-point lead over Tom Suozzi, the former county executive who was defeated by Mangano four years ago. Mangano received 159,828 votes (59 percent) to Suozzi's 111,682 votes (41 percent).

Malverne and West Hempstead incumbents retained their seats on Tuesday night, with Dorothy Goosby and Robert Troiano winning their county legislative district elections by wide margins.

With 90 percent of the county’s precincts counted, Goosby, councilwoman of the First District, defeated Republican challenger Elton McCabe by over 11,000 votes, garnering 88 percent of the vote.

Troiano led Republican challenger Pepitz Blanchard by 5,291 votes.

In other countywide races, Republican County Comptroller George Maragos was up 53 percent to 47 percent over Democrat Howard Weitzman.

"It was a challenging campaign, and unfortunately, it got contentious at times ... that I did not like,” Maragos said. “But at the end, this is a great victory for the residents of Nassau County. It means that we will continue to hold the line on property taxes and continue to make Nassau County more affordable for our seniors and young people to be able to stay in Nassau County."

Four years ago, Weitzman lost to Maragos after holding the job for eight years. Like Suozzi, he was unsuccessful in his bid to win back his old post.

“We gave it our best,” Weitzman said. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. We did everything we could in this election, but we couldn’t overcome the message of ‘we didn’t raise your taxes.’ And at the end of the day, that’s what carried it.”

County Clerk Maureen O'Connell, a Republican, easily won her third term with 56 percent over the vote. She was challenged by Democrat Laura Gillen.

The lone win for the Democrats in countywide races was District Attorney Kathleen Rice who picked up 59 percent of the vote in her race against Republican Howard Sturim. Rice won her third term.

Rice thanked her supporters at Democratic headquarters in Carle Place, and said her goal will be “preserving the fabric of our county so that all of our children and grandchildren can live the lives we’ve been lucky enough to have here.”