There were some tight races and there’ll be some new faces on Kingston’s Common Council come 2014.
According to unofficial results Tuesday night, council Minority Leader Deb Brown will be the sole Republican on the council; the other eight seats will be held by Democrats. Here’s a ward-by-ward breakdown of how the ballots were cast:
Ward 1 – Incumbent Democrat Matt Dunn, running unopposed, got 424 votes.
Ward 2 – Democrat Brian Seche, a former alderman running unopposed, got 278 votes.
Ward 3 – Democrat Brad Will eked out a slim win over Andy Champ-Doran, a Democrat running on the Republican line, 329-290. Richard Kelder, running on the Working Families Party line, collected 30 votes.
Ward 4 – Democrat Nina Dawson beat the GOP’s Steve Ladin 166-78.
Ward 5 – Incumbent Democrat Bill Carey, running unopposed, got 285 votes.
Ward 6 – Incumbent Democrat Elisa Ball squeaked out a very narrow win over GOP challenger Joe Corcoran, 288-266. Both this and the Ward 3 race are in the range where theoretically, absentee ballots could change the result.
Ward 7 – Incumbent Democrat Maryann Mills, running unopposed, tallied 509 votes.
Ward 8 – Democratic newcomer Steve Schabot beat Republican nominee Lisa Bruck 309-72. Clark Richters, running on his own Kingston Lighthouse line, garnered 7 votes.
Ward 9 – Republican incumbent Deb Brown held off, just barely, Democratic challenger Lynn Johnson 338-325. Like the Ward 3 and 6 races, this result could be changed when absentee ballots are opened.
In the Town of Ulster, Supervisor James Quigley III, running unopposed, won. Incumbent GOP Councilman John Morrow won another term on the town board with 1,386 votes; he will be joined by former Democratic councilman Rocco Secreto, who got 1,220 votes. Andrew Stavropoulous, Justin Meyer and Cris Hendrick finished out of the running.
In the Town of Esopus, Supervisor John Coutant, running unopposed, also won. The unopposed Holly Netter won the town clerk office. Republican Bernice McNierney held off a challenge from Democrat Essi Zahedi 1,235-676. Democrat Diane McCord and Republican Wayne Freer won town board seats.