Dead heat in 21st Assembly District

Election Day 2020 turned out to be a wild one.

As of midnight on Tuesday, tens of thousands of absentee ballots remained to be counted, making projecting winners in any number of races for Congress and the State Legislature tricky, if not impossible.

In the 21st District, State Assemblywoman Judy Griffin, a Democrat from Rockville Centre, was losing to Republican challenger Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick, who, at press time on Wednesday, had 50 percent of the vote to her opponent’s 49 percent, according to the Nassau County Board of Elections.

But thousands of absentee ballots, which could tip the scale of the race, were still to be counted, and tallying them  could take days.

Meanwhile, State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, a Democrat from Long Beach representing the 9th District, was re-elected with 53 percent of the vote to 47 percent for his challenger, Victoria Johnson.

Kaminsky said it was “really gratifying” to return to Albany, noting that a few years ago, none of Long Island’s senators were Democrats. Sen. John Brooks, representing the 8th District, ran unopposed and was re-elected.

U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice, a Democrat representing the 4th Congressional District, was also re-elected, with 52 percent of the vote to 47 percent for Republican Douglas Tuman.

“I believe we can move forward from this election stronger and more unified,” Rice said in a statement. “Long Islanders and Americans of all political backgrounds want an end to the dysfunction in Washington, and we can only achieve that if we work together.”

As the Herald went to press Wednesday morning, the presidential race pitting Donald Trump against Joe Biden remained undecided, with key battleground states — Pennsylavania, Michigan and Wisconsin, along with Arizona, Nevada and Georgia — still furiously counting votes.

The presidency, according to the pundits, may not be decided until Friday.