{"id":321063,"date":"2026-11-04T15:38:02","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T15:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/321063\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T15:38:02","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T15:38:02","slug":"a-blue-ripple-in-erie-county-investigative-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/321063\/","title":{"rendered":"A blue ripple in Erie County : Investigative Post"},"content":{"rendered":"

Democrats scored a big victory in the race for Erie County Clerk, and Gov. Kathy Hochul fared better in Western New York than she did four years ago. Otherwise, there were few surprises.<\/p>\n

\t \t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tNews and analysis by Geoff Kelly<\/a>, Investigative Post’s political reporter<\/p>\n

Get more Investigative Post reporting in your Google results.<\/p>\n

Yesterday\u2019s blue wave was less pronounced in Erie County \u2014 more of a blue ripple \u2014 than it was in battleground states across the country, where voters gave Democrats control of the Senate and House in a rebuke to Donald Trump and his presidency.<\/p>\n

But it was enough to lift the fortunes of some candidates in Western New York.<\/p>\n

It certainly helped Democrat Steve Meyer, a Williamsville village trustee with little name recognition countywide, unseat Erie County Clerk Mickey Kearns, who has held the office since 2017. It likely helped incumbent Pat Burke retain the 142nd District Assembly seat against West Seneca Town Supervisor Gary Dickson.<\/p>\n

And, though the race is still too close to call, it may have allowed first-time Democratic candidate Ryan Taughrin to edge out one-term incumbent Pat Chludzinski for the 143rd District Assembly seat, which includes part of Buffalo\u2019s East Side and extends into Cheektowaga, Depew and Lancaster. In Wednesday morning\u2019s unofficial tally<\/a>, with about 99 percent of the vote counted, Taughrin led Chludzinski by 336 votes.<\/p>\n

Gov. Kathy Hochul, meanwhile, defeated Republican Bruce Blakeman in Erie County by 10 percentage points. That\u2019s half her margin of victory statewide<\/a>, but a far more comfortable win in her home county than she managed four years ago against Blakeman\u2019s fellow Long Islander, Lee Zeldin, who she beat here by just 6 points.<\/p>\n

Turnout across Erie County was much the same as 2022, when just over 346,000 voters went to the polls \u2014 about 55 percent of the county\u2019s registered voters. With 3 percent of the ballots still uncounted Wednesday morning, the total for this cycle was 342,338. That suggests that the final turnout tallies will be close.<\/p>\n

The difference was in the early vote, which came fast and steady and for the most part favored Democrats.<\/p>\n

Voting early, voting blue<\/p>\n

Nearly 100,000 Erie County voters went to early polling sites in the week-and-a-half before election day \u2014 an increase of more than 40 percent over 2022. Another 16,000 voted by mail.<\/p>\n

Just over 53 percent of those early voters were Democrats, outpacing the party\u2019s countywide share of registered voters by about 10 percent. About a quarter were Republicans, which fits the GOP\u2019s registration numbers. Another 17 percent were \u201cblanks\u201d \u2014 independent voters registered to no party \u2014 which is about seven points below that segment\u2019s growing share of the county\u2019s registered voters.<\/p>\n

That early surge might be read as a manifestation of voters\u2019 enthusiasm to take part in this critical midterm congressional election. It might just be a sign that Western New Yorkers are growing more accustomed to casting ballots before election day.<\/p>\n

Whatever the cause, it helped Democrats up and down the ballot.<\/p>\n

Hochul\u2019s 35,000-vote margin of victory in Erie County is due entirely to early votes \u2014 more than 74,000 of them compared to Blakeman\u2019s 40,000. Voters who went to the polls Tuesday split their votes evenly between the two candidates.<\/p>\n

Meyer lost the election day vote to Kearns by more than 8,000 ballots, but won the early vote by nearly 20,000.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Democrat Steve Meyer beat incumbent Erie County Clerk Mickey Kearns. Photo: Geoff Kelly.<\/p>\n

In the Burke versus Dickson race, the numbers were closer. The Republican had a slight edge in the election day vote \u2014 just under 900 votes \u2014 but the early birds broke for Burke by nearly 3,300 votes. The district covers part of the city\u2019s East Side, South Buffalo, Lackawanna, West Seneca and parts of Orchard Park, including the village.<\/p>\n

Burke in 2024 squeaked by a less formidable Republican challenger than Dickson, which made his district a target for Republicans this cycle. The state party spent heavily to protect Burke<\/a> \u2014 and to promote Taughrin.<\/p>\n

Election day turnout in Cheektowaga was even less favorable to Democrats than it was countywide, falling more closely in line with the town\u2019s party registration. That may help explain why the Taughrin versus Chludzinski race remains a nail-biter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chludzinski, a former Cheektowaga cop, does not present a hard-right, pro-Trump profile, and incumbent state legislators are difficult to beat. It takes a wave, and Taughrin got something less than that. He won the early vote by more than 2,000 ballots. Chludzinski won the election day vote by about 1,700. It\u2019ll likely be some days before a victor is declared.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the state and region<\/p>\n

Blakeman beat Hochul in Niagara, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany counties, and throughout the state\u2019s rural interior. But those sparsely populated regions are no match for the New York City Democratic voting bloc, supplemented by urban centers like Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse. Statewide, Hochul on Wednesday morning led Blakeman by more than 1.1 million votes \u2014 nearly 20 percentage points.<\/p>\n

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Attorney General Letitia James were returned to office in similarly lopsided victories.<\/p>\n

Western New York\u2019s Congressional delegation remains as it was.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Republicans Claudia Tenney and Nick Langworthy handily won reelection to the 24th and 23rd Congressional district seats respectively. Democrats Tim Kennedy and Joe Morelle easily dispatched their opposition in the 26th and 25th.<\/p>\n

Anthony Constantino, a Trump favorite, held a small but likely insurmountable lead over Democrat Blake Gendebien in the 21st District, the North Country\/Adirondack region seat formerly held by Elise Stefanik. Democrat Cait Conley on Wednesday morning was leading incumbent Mike Lawler in the 17th, which covers the lower Hudson Valley.<\/p>\n

If Constantino and Conley hold their leads, and Republicans maintain their narrow advantages in two Long Island districts, New York will send 20 Democrats and six Republicans to Congress next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a gain of one seat for the Democrats \u2014 a minor contribution to the drubbing the party\u2019s Congressional candidates delivered to Republicans across the county this cycle.<\/p>\n

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Most Western New York races produced few surprises.<\/p>\n

Assemblyman Jonathan Rivera \u2014 who scored a primary victory in June over Democratic party chair Jeremy Zellner for the 61st District State Senate seat \u2014\u00a0 faced no opposition in Tuesday\u2019s general election. Republican Pat Gallivan had no opponent in the 60th.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Democrat April McCants-Baskin won reelection handily in the 63rd, as did Republican Rob Ortt in the 62nd.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Adam Bojak, a democratic socialist from Buffalo\u2019s West Side, easily beat Hamburg attorney Frank Bogulski for the 149th Assembly District seat currently held by Rivera. Incumbent Democrat Bill Conrad beat his Republican challenger in the Tonawanda-based 140th by a 3-to-1 margin. Incumbent Karen McMahon easily beat her GOP challenger in the Amherst-based 146th.<\/p>\n

Democrat Leah Halton-Pope ran unopposed to succeed her former boss, Crystal Peoples-Stokes, in Buffalo\u2019s 141st District. Republicans Dave DiPietro and Joe Sempolinski likewise faced no challengers in the 147th and 148th, respectively.<\/p>\n

The blue wave may have lifted Meyer, Burke and possibly Taughrin, but it broke before it reached Niagara County.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Democrat Nate McMurray, the former Grand Island town supervisor who ran three times for Congress, challenged former Niagara County Legislature Chair Becky Wydysh for the open 145th Assembly seat. Wydysh, well entrenched in the county\u2019s GOP establishment, won with 56 percent of the vote.<\/p>\n

\t\t\tposted 25 minutes ago – November 4, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Democrats scored a big victory in the race for Erie County Clerk, and Gov. Kathy Hochul fared better…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[902,136,138,137,50],"class_list":["post-321063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-elections","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}