Election night on Long Island: Latest updates

Check out the results of local, state and national races as it all unfolded.

Highlights

*See election results for state and local races.

*Check out Newsday's election page.

Bond measure passes

The $4.2 billion Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022 passed Tuesday night. -- Staff reports

Garbarino keeps House seat

Republican Andrew Garbarino wins reelection to U.S. House in New York's 2nd Congressional District. -- AP 

LaLota wins House seat

Republican Nicholas LaLota wins election to U.S. House in New York's 1st Congressional District. -- AP

Hochul elected governor

Kathy Hochul won the race for governor against Rep. Lee Zeldin in a tight contest, making history as the first woman elected governor in New York. 

“I have felt a weight on my shoulders to make sure that every little girl and all the women of the state who’ve had to bang up against glass ceilings everywhere they turn, to know that a woman could be elected in her own right and successfully govern a state as rough and tumble as New York,” Hochul said, standing under a literal glass ceiling. -- Staff and wire reports

Zimmerman concedes to Santos

Democratic candidate Robert Zimmerman has conceded the 3rd Congressional District race to Republican George Santos. -- Staff reports

Wait and see

Newsday's AIfonso Castillo caught up with 2nd District Congressional candidate Jackie Gordon on her way out of Suffolk Democratic headquarters. All she’d say is, “I’m not disappointed. The results aren’t in."

Suffolk vote delayed

The Suffolk County Board of Elections is delaying publication of more than 450,000 election night votes after a Wi-Fi hiccup. Memory cards are being driven to the Yaphank Board of Education headquarters. Suffolk Democratic Chairman Rich Schaffer said that because of the Suffolk cyberattack, they're not expecting results for any Suffolk races until 2:30 a.m. -- Staff reports

Biden, Trump agree on something

Joe Biden and Donald Trump are having a rare moment of agreement on Election Day: They’re urging the voters to stay in line.

Biden took to Twitter late in the evening to urge voters who are facing long lines to wait it out to cast their ballots. “If you’re in line to vote, remember to stay in line!” Biden tweeted.

The Democrat's tweet came hours after Trump took his social media startup Truth Social to urge “The Great People of Arizona” to not leave the line “until you VOTE.” -- AP

James declares victory

State Attorney General Letitia James declared victory Tuesday in her quest for a second term against Republican Michael Henry. -- Staff reports

Biden reaches out

President Joe Biden has made several “congratulatory” calls to fellow Democrats on Tuesday evening, according to the White House.

The White House said Biden has already reached out to Massachusetts Governor-elect Maura Healey, Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee, Vermont Senator-elect Peter Welch, Delaware Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

The Associated Press has not declared Spanberger, a two-term incumbent, the winner in Virginia’s 7th district race. -- AP

Latest local voting numbers

In Nassau County, 350,254 total voters cast ballots on Tuesday as of 8:30 p.m., according to Democratic Elections Commissioner James Scheuerman. With early voting, the total was 474,234.
That includes 129,904 registered Republicans; 122,449 registered Democrats; 74,779 voters unaffiliated with a political party. Remaining voters were affiliated with minor political parties. -- Staff reports

Schumer keeps his seat

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer has been elected to a fifth term, easily defeating a little-known Republican political commentator. Schumer is the Senate majority leader and will keep that post only if the Democrats retain control of the chamber after Tuesday’s election. The New York Democrat was first elected to the Senate in 1998. He hasn’t faced a serious challenge since then. His opponent this year was Republican Joe Pinion, a former host on the conservative network Newsmax who has never held elective office. -- AP

Voting brisk in Nassau

In Nassau County, 290,847 total voters cast ballots on Tuesday as of 6 p.m., according to Democratic Elections Commissioner James Scheuerman.

"Voters are voting in great numbers," Scheuerman told Newsday in an interview Tuesday evening. "A lot of exciting races and a lot of competitive races so far. Voters are making sure they vote."

That includes 113,016 (38.9%) registered Republicans; 102,168 registered Democrats (35.2%); and 62,007 voters unaffiliated with a political party (21.3%).

In Nassau, a total of 50,396 absentee ballots were requested; 32,345 were returned. A total of 18,051 ballots have not been returned, but must be post-marked by Tuesday.

Democrats held a slight edge in early voting, according to Board of Election officials in both counties.

In Nassau, there were 123,436 total early voters. 51,452 (41.6%) were Democrats; 45,766 early voters (37.1%) were Republicans

In Suffolk, there were 98,226 total early voters. Of that number, 39,161 (39.9%) were Democrats; 34,080 (34.7%) were Republicans, according to BOE data. -- Scott Eidler

Greene reelected

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the freshman Republican who gained notoriety in her first term for incendiary rhetoric that edged into racism, antisemitism and conspiracy theories, has been reelected, AP's Russ Bynum reports from Savannah.

Just weeks after taking office last year, members of the Democratic-controlled House voted to strip Greene of her committee assignments following uproar over her past comments and apparent support of violence against Democrats.

Democrats were particularly livid about a Facebook ad on Greene’s campaign page. The image featured a photo of Greene holding a gun along images of Democratic U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. The ad included the caption: “Squad’s worst nightmare.”

Greene was expected to easily win reelection and has made clear that should Republicans win control of House she expects to hold a prominent role in the caucus.

“I’m going to be a strong legislator and I’ll be a very involved member of Congress,” she predicted. “I know how to work inside, and I know how to work outside. And I’m looking forward to doing that.” -- AP

DeSantis reelected 

Four years ago, Ron DeSantis narrowly won the Florida governor’s office in a squeaker. But he’s consolidated his grip on the state since then, and on Tuesday the Republican easily won a second term, AP's Anthony Izaguirre reports.

The Associated Press called the race shortly after polls closed. The victory could embolden DeSantis to seek the White House in the next election as many have expected.  -- AP

Rubio retains Senate seat

Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida easily won another term on Tuesday, beating Democratic U.S. Rep. Val Demings, AP's Brendan Farrington reports.

Once the quintessential swing state, Rubio’s victory appeared to be further evidence of Florida’s hardening conservative politics. Demings was unable to unseat Rubio despite raising more money and drawing national attention with her role in then-President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial. -- AP

Hochul's glass ceiling

While Kathy Hochul waits to see if she'll become the first woman to win election as New York's governor, invitees to her campaign party are assembling under a quite literal glass ceiling.

AP photographer Mary Altaffer is at Capitale, an event space in Manhattan's Chinatown playing host to Hochul's Election Night party. This isn't the first time Hochul, who became New York's governor when her predecessor Andrew Cuomo resigned last year amid scandal, has stood under a glass ceiling.

Hochul held her Democratic primary victory party at a similar space earlier this year, AP's Michelle L. Price reported at the time.

“I’m also here because I stand on the shoulders of generations of women, generations of women who constantly had to bang up against that glass ceiling," Hochul said in June. “To the women of New York, this one’s for you.”

Hochul faces Republican congressman Lee Zeldin in the general election. -- AP

History made in gubernatorial races 

Two gubernatorial firsts tonight: In Maryland, Democrat Wes Moore becomes the state’s first Black governor. And in Massachusetts, Democrat Maura Healey’s win makes her the state’s first elected woman and openly gay governor.

Moore is a bestselling author in his first run for public office, AP's Brian Witte reports.

Healey is currently Massachusetts' attorney general and has broken a peculiar jinx in the state. Since 1958, six former Massachusetts attorneys general sought the governor’s office and all failed, AP's Steve LeBlanc reports. -- AP

Gen Z goes to Washington

Democrat Maxwell Alejandro Frost has become the first Gen Z member to win a seat in Congress, winning a Florida House seat.

Frost, a 25-year-old gun reform and social justice activist, ran in a heavily blue Orlando-area district being relinquished by Democratic Rep. Val Demings, who challenged Republican Sen. Marco Rubio this year.

Frost is a former March For Our Lives organizer seeking stricter gun control laws and has stressed opposition to restrictions on abortion rights. Generation Z generally refers to those born between the late 1990s to early 2010s. To become a member of Congress, candidates must be at least 25 years old.

He ran against Calvin Wimbish, a 72-year-old former Army Green Beret who called himself a “Christian, conservative, constitutionalist” candidate for office. -- AP

First calls of the night

Right as polls closed in South Carolina and Vermont, AP made its first calls in U.S. Senate races. Republican Tim Scott won reelection in South Carolina, while Democrat Peter Welch was elected from Vermont.

In defeating Trump-endorsed Republican Gerald Malloy, Welch — who has served in the House of Representatives for 16 years — becomes the junior senator from Vermont while independent Bernie Sanders becomes the state's senior senator. Longtime U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy is retiring after serving 48 years, AP's Wilson Ring reports. -- AP

Marijuana vote

Voters in five states are weighing whether to approve the use of recreational marijuana, a move that could signal a major shift toward legalization in even some of the most conservative parts of the country.

The proposals are on the ballot in Republican strongholds Arkansas, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota as well as Democratic-leaning Maryland, reports AP’s Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock. The ballot measures come on the heels of President Joe Biden announcing last month he was pardoning thousands of Americans convicted of simple possession of marijuana under federal law.

Advocates of the marijuana initiatives are hopeful Biden’s announcement may give a boost to their efforts. -- AP

Deciding factors for voters

High inflation and worries about the future of American democracy were significant factors in voters’ decisions in this year’s midterm election, according to AP VoteCast. Roughly three-quarters say the country is headed in the wrong direction. That figure is higher than it was in VoteCast surveys of voters in 2018 and 2020. -- AP