For now, Helming holds a substantial lead over Baldridge in New York’s 54th state Senate District
With roughly half of polling sites in the district reporting at around 11:45 p.m., incumbent Republican Pamela Helming appears poised to be reelected to her seat, which covers Riga, Chili, Wheatland, Rush, and Mendon, along with Wayne, Ontario, and Livingston counties.
But the results reported late Tuesday were incomplete. Due to technical issues that Democratic Elections Commission Jackie Ortiz said were not related to local voting machines, Monroe County election officials were unable to provide a comprehensive count of early voting and poll results, as well as any absentee ballots they’d already received. The stuck cog left many important local races in limbo.
WXXI and CITY will update this story and other election coverage early Wednesday, or as soon as adequate numbers are available.
Helming carried roughly 66 percent of the votes that had been tallied and reported on the New York State Board of Elections website. She faced a challenge from Democratic Kenan Baldridge, a former town of Rose supervisor, who pulled in 32 percent of the votes that had been counted.
Helming has represented the 54th District in the state Senate since 2017. She’s a resident of Canandaigua and she previously served as town supervisor and a member of the Town Board. She co-sponsored legislation, signed into law this past January, to create a state task force on rural ambulance services. Her priorities have included bolstering agriculture and protecting water quality, though she’s also a gun-rights supporter who has introduced legislation that would affirm competitive shooting sports clubs and events can continue under new state gun laws.
Like many of her Republican counterparts, Helming has called for state lawmakers to roll back recent bail and parole reforms.
Baldridge was Rose town supervisor in Wayne County for eight years starting in 2012, and he previously served an 11-year stint on the North Rose-Wolcott school board. Baldridge has said that he wants the state to boost funding for child care programs, which he would like to see tied into public schools; dedicate more state funding for rural fire and ambulance departments; and address disparities in health care and insurance.
A volunteer firefighter for 45 years, Baldridge helped form a volunteer organization that brought advanced life support services to ambulance providers in northeast Wayne County. He has a professional background in health care administration and consulting.
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