The race for New York’s 43rd State Senate District seat remains close enough to trigger an automatic recount. But, that’s not stopping the Democratic candidate from declaring victory.
Democrat Devin Lander has declared himself the winner in the tight contest for New York’s 43rd State Senate seat. The district encompasses Rensselaer County as well as portions of Albany and Washington counties – Republican Jake Ashby initially won the seat in 2022 and has represented the district since.
On Thursday, Lander said his campaign had crunched the numbers; he leads by roughly 330 votes in an election that garnered more than 123,000 ballots.
“We made the decision based on the number of votes left to count and realizing that our lead was more than the possible votes to be counted which were all in Washington County. So, that’s why we came out and said, understanding it would be close enough to trigger an automatic recount, but the way we decided to do it was to declare, according to this count, we were the winners. We don’t expect that to change in the recount,” said Lander.
An automatic recount of the votes is triggered under state law in any race with a margin of less than half a percent.
The final deadline for some Albany County mail-in ballots to arrive is next week.
For his part, Ashby has not yet conceded. In a statement released Thursday, he said he wants to honor the hand recount and will have further comment upon its completion adding, “I know the length of this process may be a little frustrating for some people, but, for me, the thoroughness and mandate to ensure every vote is counted accurately emphasizes why I believe so strongly in the integrity of our elections and in our democratic process.”
Lander says he’ll focus on making life more affordable for his constituents if elected.
“We have one of the oldest grids in the nation and I think the state itself needs to look at ways to invest in updating the grid so we can bring new sources of energy on, that’s one of the issues we’ve had in New York. The fact that upgrades to the grid get passed on to rate payers under the current models is causing a lot of the harm at the people’s wallets. It’s the delivery fees, it’s the upgrades to the grid, so, I think what mandate we have as newly elected people is to try to come up with solutions to these issues,” said Lander.
If Lander does, in fact, secure the win, he would join a handful of Democratic candidates who flipped Republican seats in the Capital Region.
Republican State Senator Jim Tedisco lost his 44th District seat to Democrat Sarah Rogerson and Republican Assemblyman Scott Bendett lost to Democrat Chloe Pierce in the race for the 107th District seat.
Skidmore College Political Science Department Chair Bob Turner said Democratic wins at the state level will hand Democrats a significant majority.
“So, entering the 2027 session the Democrats are going to hold their largest majority in over a century in the Senate with at least 47 seats and with 111 or 112 of 150 seats in the Assembly, they’re going to have the largest majority in state history,” said Turner.
Those majorities mean, for example, Democratic legislators have the ability to overrule Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul’s vetoes.
Even with Democratic majorities and the mandate from voters, Turner says it may not necessarily translate to smooth legislating.
Take the state budget.
“There’s going to be really big divides between the downstate progressive wing of the Democratic party and the suburban moderate wing. The downstate progressives are going to want more wealth taxes and to really push for single-payer healthcare. Where I think the moderates, many of whom are going to include the newly-elected lawmakers from the flipped districts in the Hudson valley and Long Island and upstate, are going to be more prioritized on property tax relief and school funding,” said Turner.
Though the recount hasn’t been officially called, it is expected to begin later this month.
