By:Jeff Lipton and Andrew Coen
McCarthy (D-Mineola), the nurse-turned-politician, outlasted Garner, the longtime mayor of the Village of Hempstead.
As of 11 p.m. Tuesday night, the unofficial tally showed McCarthy with a healthy lead, collecting 64 percent of the vote to 36 percent for Garner, in the race for a two-year term in the 4th Congressional District, which encompasses several South Shore communities.
"It's been my pleasure to serve this district for eight years," McCarthy said in her victory speech, made at 10:40 p.m. at the Mirage, a nightclub in Westbury, where the Democrats gathered.
She thanked the unions for supporting her. "That's what we're all about," she said. "We're Democrats. We fight for the working people."
McCarthy attributed her victory to her constituents getting to know her better over the last eight years.
"There's a lot of legislation I've passed," McCarthy said. "I don't brag about it, but I get it done."
"I have nothing to feel ashamed about," Garner said. "We ran a well-organized campaign."
The battle cry of "Fix Albany," directed by challengers at local state incumbents, apparently was not heard by voters, who overwhelmingly cast their ballots for Skelos and Barra.
Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) held off a challenge from Democratic candidate Josh Ketover, a personal-injury lawyer from Long Beach. As of 11 p.m. Tuesday, Skelos had amassed 61.2 percent of the vote to Ketover's 38.8 percent. The victory earned Skelos his 11th two-year term in the 9th Senatorial District.
Republican Bob Barra beat his Democratic opponent, Dan Torres, to retain the 14th Assembly District seat. By a margin of 57 percent to 43 percent as of 11 p.m.Tuesday night, the incumbent, who has written more than 100 pieces of legislation, was re-elected to a third term. Barra's constituents include residents of his native Lynbrook, Rockville Centre, East Rockaway, Valley Stream, Oceanside, Baldwin, Malverne and West Hempstead.
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, a Democrat, easily won a second six-year term by trouncing Republican Howard Mills, the deputy minority leader of the state Assembly, who represents Hudson Valley's Orange County, and Conservative Party candidate Dr. Marilyn O'Grady, an ophthalmologist from Garden City. As of 11 p.m., the unofficial tally showed Schumer with 70 percent of the vote, 25 percent for Mills and 3 percent for O'Grady.
Nassau County's proposed open-space referendum, which was written by county Legislator David Denenberg, a Democrat from Merrick, passed with 76 percent of the vote as of 11 p.m. It will provide the county with $50 million in bond money to buy and preserve open space.
Record numbers were seen at the polls throughout Long Island, spurred by the tense national election and hearty voter registration campaigns.
McCarthy said she was thrilled to see so many residents, especially young people, voting in this election.
In her next term, she plans on tackling the affordable-housing crisis on Long Island. "We're going to have an even bigger problem there if we don't tackle it," she said.
In addition, she said she wants to help villages build up their tax bases and appropriate more money to them.
"A number of us in Congress would like to look at these small villages," McCarthy said. "We can't keep abandoning our villages. We have to make sure they have the proper tax base."
