Astorino (R) Unseats Spano (D) As Westchester, NY County Exec

[Renew Deal]

Source: WCBS-NY

In the race for Westchester County, incumbent Andy Spano was seeking a fourth term, but in something of a shocker, he found himself conceding to Republican Rob Astorino.

Democrats enjoy a 2-to-1 registration advantage in Westchester, but low turnout had Republican challengers hoping to pull off upsets. Astorino lost to Spano by 16 points four years ago, but as voters cast ballots Tuesday, Astorino felt his get-out-the-vote operation would pull him much closer this time.

"Property taxes mean more to people today than they did four years ago when things were great. This is a referendum on property taxes, we've had the 60 percent increases in seven years in Westchester," Astorino said.

Late Tuesday night, Spano conceded after 12 years as County Executive.

"Resonating throughout this county was something else – a dissatisfaction with the way taxes are, the way things are, and my opponent was able to tap into that feeling," he said.

Read more: http://wcbstv.com/topstories/rob.astorino.westchester.2.1290428.html

---

Republicans were losing low turnout elections while Bush was in charge. Now it's the Dems.

[robcon]

1. I'm also shocked.

I live in Westchester - a solidly Democratic county - and Spano seems to have spent a lot of money on ads.

I never gave a thought to Spano losing. I didn't know who was running against him until I went in the voting booth. Shocking. Must be low turnout.