By: John C. O'Connell
Close races make for long night's journey into day for county candidates
Hempstead Town incumbents all returned
Even with all election districts reporting, it was unclear Wednesday morning after Election Day which party would control the Nassau County Legislature, with absentee ballots in the 14th District race between Democrat incumbent Dave Mejias and Republican Joseph Belesi holding the key to whether Democrats retained control or the GOP regained it.
Unofficial tallies had Mejias winning with 51 percent of the vote to Belesi's 49 percent with 100 percent of Tuesday's vote counted. Mejias had a 222 vote margin on Belesi, but 300 absentee ballots could change the outcome.
Democrat Tom Suozzi, the county executive, was to announce at an 11 a.m. press conference Wednesday that his party had indeed held on to their narrow majority in the Legislature.
In local races covered by the Herald, incumbents were re-elected.
Jeff Toback (D-Oceanside) won by a small margin, defeating Republican Howard Kopel in unofficial results with 54 percent of the vote. Toback had 4,861 votes to Kopel's 4,165.
Democratic incumbent Joseph Scannell beat Republican Christian Browne in the 5th L.D., covering Baldwin and Rockville Centre, with unofficial results showing Scannell with 5,225 votes to Browne's 4,204, or 55 percent to 45 percent.
In the 6th District's Lynbrook-Valley Stream area, Republican incumbent Fran Becker easily beat Democrat Omar Jorge with 69 percent of the vote for Becker and 31 percent for Jorge.
Vincent Muscarella, the Republican incumbent in the 8th District in the West Hempstead area, defeated Michael Uhl, the Democrat, by a large margin. Muscarella took 76 percent of the vote to Uhl's 24 percent.
Republican incumbent Norma Gonsalves in Nassau's 13th District won with 66 percent of the vote against her Democratic challenger John Rossi, who got 34 percent of the vote.
In the 1st L.D., Democrat incumbent Kevan Abrahams defeated Republican Darren Bryant, 84 percent to 16 percent.
Democrat incumbent Roger Corbin took 77 percent of the vote to Republican challenger Darrol Lopez's 23 percent.
In the 3rd District race between incumbent Republican John Ciotti and second-time challenger Democrat Ali Mirza, Ciotti defeated Mirza with 57 percent to Mirza's 43 percent. If that unofficial result holds, Ciotti will have beat Mirza this time by more votes than he had two years ago. In the last election, Mirza lost by 824 votes. It looks like Ciotti won by 1,370 votes in this election.
In the 19th L.D., incumbent Democrat Dave Denenberg took 70 percent of the vote to Republican challenger John Podolski's 30 percent.
Town races
Republican candidates and their supporters in the Town of Hempstead were as elated Tuesday night at their headquarters as the Democrats were about the county races at the Dems' election night gathering place.
Incumbent Republican Kate Murray defeated Democrat Kevin Gorman with an unofficial total of 68 percent for Murray and 32 percent for Gorman.
The Town Clerk race between Republican Mark Bonilla and Democrat Stephen Turman showed Bonilla with 65 percent of the vote and Turman with 35 percent.
Receiver of Taxes Don Clavin took 66 percent of the vote to Democrat challenger Geoffrey Prime's 34 percent.
In Town Council elections, the GOP's Ed Ambrosino defeated Democrat N. Scott Banks, 65 percent to 35 percent. Republican James Darcy beat Democrat Gary Carlton, 67 percent to 33 percent. Incumbent Republican Angelina Cullin won 64 percent of the vote to Democrat Robert Young's 36 percent.
Long Beach
Republicans rejoiced in Long Beach, too, as the GOP's Thomas Sofield Jr., Mona Goodman John McLaughlin Jr. appeared to be the top three vote getters in the best three of six candidates for election to the Long Beach City Council, changing the majority Democratic rule.
Voters rejected, 56 percent to 44 percent, a referendum that would have the city adopt a mayoral form of government.
