A contentious Democratic primary for Troy mayor is still undecided after the two leading candidates finished Thursday night only five votes apart, by unofficial count.
In the three-way race between endorsed Democrat W. Patrick Madden, city council president Rodney Wiltshire, and political newcomer Ernest Everett, it was Madden and Wiltshire who came out ahead, less than a percentage point from each other.
In an unofficial count, Madden was leading with 754 votes to Wilshire's 749. Everett fell off at 246.
With the race too close to call, both candidates said they expect a victory once all the votes are tallied. Absentee ballots need to be counted and voting machines re-canvassed.
But Madden said his team will now shift its focus to November.
"We have to deal with the opening of the absentee ballot issue, but that's not going to slow us down. We're looking ahead to the general election in November," said Madden.
Madden already had an idea in mind of where he will focus his campaign in the Capital Region city of about 50,000 residents.
"The downtown is doing great, I'm delighted about that. We're all thrilled about it, and I'd really like to leverage that momentum to make change in the neighborhoods," said Madden.
Wiltshire, who ran without the Democratic Party's backing, also thinks his campaign will prevail.
"We're pretty confident that after the absentee ballots are counted, the affadavit ballots are counted, and the machines are recanvassed that we're going to be victorious. We reached thousands of voters, we talked to everyone. This was a hard, hard fight," said Wiltshire.
Wiltshire said his team will take a closer look at the night's count. A snag in returns occurred when one precinct was reportedly locked up after polling with the results still inside. There were also reports of some polling places briefly running out of ballots throughout the day.
"When our lawyers get at things and they look at who's voted and if there are any irregularities, which is something that — I'm sorry to say— but in Troy there's a history of irregularities, especially in Democratic circles. So we're going to look into anything that might be outside of the ordinary here," said Wiltshire.
At the end of the evening, City Democratic Chair Jim McCann voiced his support for Madden.
"We interviewed many candidates including Mr. Wiltshire, and the committee overwhelmingly voted for Patrick Madden's experience. The city is going to need someone with his type of expertise," said McCann. "
The winner of the Democratic primary will go on to face Republican nominee and city councilor Jim Gordon in November. Jack Cox has the Revolution Party line and Wiltshire still has the Working Families Party line even if he loses the Democratic primary. They are all looking to replace Democratic Mayor Lou Rosamilia, who is not seeking another term.
