By JOSEPH KELLARD
The Nov. 4 results show that 14,914 of Long Beach's 23,430 registered voters made it to the polls.
While most voters in the city’s 24 election districts more or less split their votes in the contests for president, Congress and state Senate and Assembly, the two most heavily Democratic districts, 8 and 21, substantially favored Obama, who also fared well in the Republican-dominant West End districts 1, 2 and 3.
In District 8, a heavily black and Hispanic area in the city's North Park section, Obama trounced McCain, 659 to 25. “Historically, the African-American, or North Park district in Long Beach, in presidential and gubernatorial elections, votes overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates,” said Larry Elovich, a former Long Beach Democratic chairman. “In the local elections, at least in recent years, they split.”
District 21, meanwhile, mostly comprises elderly Jewish residents in an apartment building at Lincoln Boulevard and East Broadway, and they went for Obama, 415 to 179.
In the Republican-leaning districts 1, 2 and 3, from New York to Nevada avenues, McCain edged Obama by just two votes, 1,093 to 1,091.
Elovich believes many residents in that area voted for Obama because they are angry about the nation's economy. “People were voting their wallets and identified McCain with President Bush,” Elovich said.
Jim Moriarty, chairman of the Long Beach Republican Committee, agreed. “The economy was the overriding issue in the closing weeks of the campaign,” he said.
Meanwhile, three longtime local incumbents — U.S. Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford), state Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) and state Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach) — handily defeated their challengers, with the Democrats taking similarly large margins in North Park and District 21.
In North Park, King lost to challenger Graham Long (D-Locust Valley) by a 444-to-34 margin in the 3rd Congressional District race. Skelos also lost in that area to challenger Roy Simon, 459 to 63.
Overall, however, Skelos carried Long Beach for the fourth consecutive election, and while King lost for the third straight time in Long Beach, he narrowed the gap considerably from two years ago, losing by just 16 votes this time after losing big, by 1,800 votes, in 2006.
“That's actually a big victory for King,” Elovich said, adding that the numbers show that local Republicans are gaining more support in the city. “Both the City of Long Beach and Lido Beach are recognized in general and national elections as very strong Democratic areas. So what makes Skelos and King happy is that they have been able to break into the Democratic areas —- Skelos carrying it, and King coming close and splitting it by dint of their work over the years and the people of Long Beach getting to know them all these years because of the positions they held.”
Moriarty, too, said that on the local level, whether it's the state Senate or the City Council, “People in Long Beach vote for the individuals, largely because they know them or come in contact with them, are more familiar with their records. When you get to the state or national level, where the philosophical lines are clearer, you get more of a party type of vote.”
In the 20th Assembly District, Weisenberg once again carried Long Beach by a nearly 3-to-1 margin, 9,490 to 3,221, winning in all 24 districts by a substantial margin, this time over Republican challenger Michael McGinty (R-Island Park).
Elovich said that Weisenberg, who in January will celebrate his 20th year in the Assembly, is in a special category, generating the most votes from both sides throughout the city. “In the Republican-leaning districts in the West End, they still vote for him anyway,” Elovich said.
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
