BINGHAMTON, NY (WSKG) — The race for New York’s 22nd Congressional District is narrowing. As of Wednesday evening, incumbent Anthony Brindisi (D-Utica) trailed Republican challenger Claudia Tenney by fewer than 2,000 votes.
After Election Day, Tenney was up by about 28,000 votes, 53 percent of the vote compared to Brindisi’s 42 percent. In the weeks since, however, Brindisi has won close to three times the number of mail-in ballots than Tenney, steadily closing the gap between them to roughly 1,847, according to unofficial counts from the eight county boards of elections in the district and the New York State Board of Elections.
Ballot counting was initially delayed by an Oswego County Supreme Court judge after both Brindisi and Tenney filed lawsuits requesting judicial supervision over contested ballots in the district. Their requests were granted by Judge Scott Delconte on Nov. 10, and shortly after ballot counting was allowed to begin.
According to a survey from the New York State Board of Elections, 58,997 absentee ballots were returned throughout the district, which covers parts of the Southern Tier, Central New York and the Mohawk Valley.
Brindisi picked up 2,350 votes in Oneida County on Wednesday, while Tenney won another 1,004 there.
According to Republican Elections Commissioner Rose Grimaldi, the county has finished its absentee ballot count with a total of 15,543 votes.
Brindisi also won 96 hand-counted ballots in Broome County Wednesday, while Tenney won 42.
While other counties now work to finalize their results, Chenango County has yet to begin tallying absentee ballots. Election officials there said they will start counting mail-in ballots Thursday.
According to Republican Party Commissioner Mary Lou Monahan, the Chenango County Board of Elections received 4,884 absentee ballots and 280 affidavit ballots. Brindisi would need to win around 64 percent of the county’s mail-in votes in order to overcome Tenney’s lead. According to the New York State Board of Elections, 1,889 votes came from voters registered with the Democratic Party and 13 from those with the Working Families Party. If those votes break for Brindisi, who ran on those parties’ tickets, it may offset Tenney’s lead.
Ballots challenged by the candidates will be reviewed by Judge DelConte and the Oswego County Supreme Court.