Albany, NY – Republican Thomas Kirwan appeared Wednesday to have won a disputed Assembly seat in the Hudson Valley, giving Republicans the votes needed to potentially block an override of a veto from the governor.
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In a state appeals court in Brooklyn, the four judges ruled unanimously Wednesday to toss 58 disputed affidavit votes in the race between Kirwan, a former assemblyman from Newburgh, and Democrat Frank Skartados, the incumbent from Milton, Ulster County.
The race was the only undecided race in the state and one of the longest undecided races in state history.
The seat is important because it impacts whether Democrats have enough members to override a governor’s veto. State law allows the Assembly and Senate to override a veto with two-thirds vote of the chamber.
But Republicans would now have 51 seats in the Assembly compared to 99 for Democrats, stripping Democrats of the ability to override a veto without help from the GOP.
“After a long legal process, the race is finally over and Tom Kirwan should immediately be certified the winner so taxpayers in the 100th District have a voice during the budget process,” said Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua.
The court decision means Kirwan retained a 15-vote lead over Skartados. The 100th district covers parts of Orange, Ulster and Dutchess counties, including the cities of Poughkeepsie, Beacon and Newburgh.
Kirwan said he’s hopeful there will be no more appeals of the election results.
“It’s almost anti-climactic after all these months,” Kirwan said. “I’ll probably be referred to as ‘Landslide Tommy Kirwan’ from now on.”
Kirwan has 15,084 votes compared to 15,069 for Skartados.
Skartados could appeal the case to the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals. He could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Sisa Moyo, a spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said the Democratic conference was still reviewing the decision to determine if an appeal would be filed.
“It is troubling that the court has left more than 50 votes uncounted in an election where the margin appears to be 15,” she said.
This is really irrelevant; Republicans have an actual majority in the Senate and can block veto overrides there.