With 90 percent of precincts reporting, Republican Chris Gibson is projected to defeat Democrat Julian Schreibman in New York’s nineteenth congressional district.
At midnight Gibson held a commanding 20,000 vote lead, 121,829 to 105,471.
The district was redrawn this year following the census. Saugerties has been represented in Congress for 20 years by native Maurice Hinchey, a very liberal congressman. The new district is larger and slightly more conservative.
Gibson won over several local Democratic officials and newspapers through his moderate stances and affable manner. Though he voted for the first Ryan Budget, which would have privatized Social Security, he voted against the second one, explaining that it included too much defense spending. (A retired Army colonel and Afghanistan veteran, his view carried some weight.)
Schreibman, the former county Democratic Committee Chair, was projected to win Ulster County.