Rice victorious in 4th C.D.

Venditto hangs onto State Senate seat in tight race

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Democratic 4th District Congresswoman Kathleen Rice joined several other incumbents in holding on to her seat in Tuesday night’s election, narrowly fending off a challenge from Republican former Marine David Gurfein.

Republican 14th District Assemblyman David McDonough also kept his challenger, Democrat Michael Reid, at bay, winning re-election with 63 percent of the vote to Reid’s 37 percent.

Incumbent Republican Sen. Michael Venditto appeared to narrowly hold on to his 8th District seat, with 51 percent of the vote, over Democratic challenger John Brooks’s 49 percent. As votes were counted in Suffolk County, though, it appeared that the two were locked in a virtual tie, with three dozen votes separating them –– too close to call at press time.

Longtime 18th District Assemblywoman Earlene Hooper, a Democrat, held off a challenge by Republican political newcomer Cornelius Todd Smith, who ran a campaign insisting that Hooper was out of touch and unavailable to her constituents. Hooper received 89 percent voter support to Smith’s 11 percent when the night was over, however.