Democrat Jim Gennaro trails by 723 votes, but he isn’t conceding to Republican State Senator Frank Padavan of Queens–he's waiting for the recount.
Gennaro’s spokesman and consultant says he's grateful that it's going to paper ballots, because it validates the race–which he says many didn't think would be competitive.
“When I was saying six months ago that Jim Gennaro was going to run a competitive race and beat Frank Padavan, nobody believed me,” said Evan Stavisky. “The fact that it went to paper shows that I was right and this is a Democratic district and we had a great candidate.” He went on to say that Padavan didn’t lose simply because of a Democratic tidal wave starting at the top of the ticket with Barack Obama.
“The district changed from out from under him,” Stavisky said of Padavan, who was first elected into office 35 years ago.
A city Board of Elections spokesperson said the official count would take place starting sometime next week.
One local Padavan supporter I spoke to, who did not want to be named, was indifferent: “Who cares who wins. We’re in the minority. It makes no difference at all. In the big scheme of things, it’s all over. In 2010, they were going to redistrict him anyway.”
