Martorano Gets Nod From Northern Westchester Dems

In the six-way battle for the Democratic nod in New York's 19th Congressional District, Yorktown councilman Jim Martorano won the endorsement of the Northern Westchester Democratic Coalition last night, after three rounds of balloting.

The coaltion is made up of Democratic Party representatives from the towns that make up the 19th District and state Senate's 40th District.

Here are the results:

Jim Martorano: 57%
Darren Rigger: 25.9%
Judy Aydelott: 12.9%

John Hall, Gary Suraci and Ben Shuldiner didn't make it to round three.

That makes three conventions in the district, and three different winners. Hall won in Orange County Wednesday night and Rigger took Putnam County earlier this week.

Rigger has finished in the top three at all three conventions, including his win in Putnam. Hall has had strong showings in two of the three, with his home county, Dutchess County, scheduled to hold its convention in early June. Judy Aydelott has finished in the money only once, on her home turf in northern Westchester. She was by far the biggest fundraiser as of the last FEC filing deadline at the end of March.

On Tuesday, as the spate of county meetings was about to begin, the Times Herald-Record did a story on the Democratic chase for the 19th District, saying the situation would likely not be sorted out by the conventions. It appears at this point that the story is spot on.

In the race for the nomination for state Senate in the 40th district, Michael Kaplowitz defeated Edward Brancati in a walk, taking 81% of the vote at last nights Northern Westchester convention.