The closely watched New York state senate elections brought mixed results Tuesday, as Senator Mark Grisanti declared victory while Senator Stephen Saland, who joined him in supporting marriage equality legislation last year, appeared to be losing his bid for reelection.
Both Grisanti and Saland faced primary challenges from opponents backed by the National Organization For Marriage. Grisanti, a freshman from Buffalo, easily won his primary in which he was criticized for his marriage equality vote. Saland, an 11-term incumbent from Poughkeepsie, narrowly emerged from his primary and later received an endorsement from Governor Andrew Cuomo, the popular Democrat who spearheaded the push for the legislation.
In the general election, Grisanti took 50% of the vote in a four-way race with 94% of precincts reporting, according to the Buffalo News. His Democratic opponent, Mike Amodeo, took 36% of the vote, while Charles Swanick, who was backed by NOM and ran as the candidate for the Conservative Party of New York State, received 12%.
Authored By Julie Bolcer – See the Full Story at The Advocate
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New York state Sen. Mark Grisanti was one of the four Republicans who pushed same-sex marriage into the win column. Since then he’s been the subject of relentless attacks by NOM, who has vowed to unseat him this fall.
