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Ritchie defeats Tresidder in 48th state Senate district

Natasha Haverty
/
NCPR

Incumbent Republican state Senator Patty Ritchie easily won reelection in the 48th district, covering Jefferson, Oswego and St. Lawrence counties. She beat Democrat Amy Tresidder by a more than two-to-one margin. Now, Ritchie looks ahead to tackling the economic issues facing the state.  

Ritchie says she thinks the voters supported her because she's proved herself a hard worker for the district.

"I worked really hard over the last two years and look forward to the next two," she said.

Ritchie says her priorities for those next two years are economic ones.

"Of course, working closely with Governor Cuomo to help create jobs, change the business climate in New York state, and so it's important for me to work to continue to reduce property taxes, help reduce the regulatory burden, and also to help reduce energy costs," Ritchie said.

Amy Tresidder, an Oswego County legislator, had portrayed herself as an ordinary citizen with a call to public service. She said she was satisfied with her campaign.

"I think that I've done a good job," she said. "I've made a good showing, considering the fact that it was a grassroots campaign. And I think that people appreciated my message. My message remained the same throughout; I have my integrity at the end. And that's what I said I would do. I said I would tell the truth, work hard and care about others, and that's what I've done." 

Tresidder said she hoped her opponent would focus on jobs and state mandate relief for local municipalities in her next term. She also said she thinks the minimum wage deserves a boost. 

Tresidder garnered about 25,000 votes to Ritchie's nearly 59,000. 

Ritchie heads back to Albany. She says she's happy to be done with a tough campaign schedule. 

"It's been pretty hectic. I've been out seven days a week, pretty much 12 hours a day, but I met a lot of nice people," she said. "I have to admit I'll be glad when this is over."