The final uncalled House race of the 2020 election cycle, in New York’s 22nd Congressional District, has been called in favor of Republican Claudia Tenney and has diminished the Democratic majority even further after big losses in November.
Tenney, who was a House member from the central New York district for a single term from 2017 to 2019, had since Election Day been in a seesaw battle with the Democratic congressman who beat her in 2018, Anthony Brindisi. Which absentee ballots should be counted was a key issue in several counties. But on Friday, state Supreme Court Justice Scott DelConte ruled in Tenney’s favor, allowing her to be certified the winner by New York state.
“I’m honored to have won this race. It was a hard-fought campaign and I thank Anthony Brindisi for his service. Now that every legal vote has been counted, it’s time for the results to be certified,” Tenney said. “The voters need a voice in Congress, and I look forward to getting to work on behalf of New York’s 22nd Congressional District.”
Although Delconte made a final ruling for certification, Brindisi plans to appeal at the state court level, and could attempt to contest the election results at the House of Representatives. Tenney leads Brindisi by just 109 votes, winning 156,099 votes to Brindisi’s 155,989. The ruling allows for counties and the state elections board are to certify the election, while denying Brindisi’s attempt to block that certification.
“I am shocked and surprised by this decision because of the countless errors and discrepancies that have occurred throughout this initial count. I believe a full audit and hand recount is the only way to resolve this race,” Brindisi said in a statement on Twitter. “With the margin so thin, the ever changing tally, and the countless errors that have occurred arriving at today’s final number we can’t afford to wonder here. We have to get it right.”
Brindisi, 42, was considered one of the most vulnerable freshman Democrats up for reelection in 2020. Brindisi was in a rematch against Tenney, who previously represented the district in the House for one term before losing to him in 2018 by nearly 2 percentage points. In 2016, former President Donald Trump won the district, with 55% of the vote to Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s 39% (2020 presidential statistics for New York aren’t yet available.).
Tenney and Brindisi were previously colleagues on opposite sides of the aisle for six years in the New York Assembly before Tenney ran for Congress in the central New York district.
During the campaign, the New York Republican sought to hold China responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic via lawsuits against the Chinese government for damages inflicted on U.S. families. Tenney also campaigned on freezing Chinese assets as collateral on the prospective damages caused by COVID-19.
Brindisi, a native of Utica and an Albany Law School graduate, was a member of the House Armed Services Committee, the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and the House Agriculture Committee.
During his first term in office, Brindisi tried to distance himself from House Democratic leaders and the more leftist factions of his party, aiming instead to work on more local issues related to his district.
Tenney’s win means the House will have 221 Democratic members and 212 Republicans, with 218 needed for a majority. A pair of Louisiana House districts are vacant, with each party set to retain a seat once special elections are held.
And Democrats’ majority is likely to get even thinner, temporarily. Democratic Reps. Martha Fudge of Ohio and Deb Haaland of New Mexico have been nominated for Cabinet positions in the Biden administration. Once they’re confirmed, the House margin would be, for at least a couple of months 219-213, but would then increase again. Moreover, Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, is reportedly interested in the soon-to-be-open state attorney general’s job in Sacramento. If he left, Democratic ranks would, temporarily, be depleted even further.
