More than three months after election day, Republican Claudia Tenney has emerged victorious in New York’s 22nd congressional district by the slimmest of margins. Democratic incumbent Anthony Brindisi conceded Monday afternoon after the state board of election certified the results.
Tenney won the race by just 109 votes and will return to represent NY-22. We caught up with Brindisi Tuesday.
“I felt that a recount was warranted here in this race given the fact that we were separates by only about a hundred votes which is about 0.4% below the new state threshold for automatic recounts, but the court felt differently,” he said.
Brindisi says he felt conceding was the right thing to do for the district and his family. A protracted legal battle and recount would have dragged out the process for several more months. He says he’s had a front seat to New York’s very broken election system.
“My one hope coming out of this is that there’s a top to bottom review of New York state election laws, New York state voting systems, as well as intense scrutiny on the current county board of elections system.”
Brindisi believes many voters were disenfranchised.
“Hundreds, if not thousands of people in this district were not given the right to vote because of errors made and ineptitude by the boards of elections, specifically here in Oneida County where they failed to register thousands of voters,” he said. “I think that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I think the problems in Oneida County are much deeper than that.”
Brindisi is calling for an investigation. Tenney was not made available for comment, but she did tell Fox News recently that she’s comfortable with the judge’s ruling.
“I will quote the judge, every single valid vote that was cast in the 22nd congressional district has been accounted for and counted. This is a really unusual case where we had a judge and a judicial review for over 90 days of this race.”
Despite the dysfunction at the Boards of Elections, Tenney told NewsMax that they should play a lead role in all election matters.
“We have to make sure that all the function to take care of voting are with the boards of elections. This government agency should be specialized,” she said. “The Democrats are trying to blur this line by having the Department of Motor Vehicles and … colleges and universities register voters, they want no-ask absentee voting.”
Differences aside, Tenney says she appreciates Brindisi’s offer to ensure a smooth transition. He says she accepted an invitation to stop at his Utica office Tuesday where they had a cordial and productive meeting.