Hall Wins Big In District 19 Democratic Primary

Singer-songwriter John Hall has taken the big first step in his bid for the 19th District congressional seat from New York.

With the results nearly final, Hall leads his nearest competitor, Judy Aydelott, by about a two-to-one-margin, with Ben Shuldiner coming in third and Darren Rigger running a distant fourth in the race.

Rigger conceded earlier this evening saying in an e-mailed statement that his main goal for running was to see Republican Rep. Sue Kelly, the incumbent in the race, defeated in November. "I'll do everything I can to support," Rigger said in the statement.

So far no word from the other candidates.

Here are the results by county, as reported by the respective county boards of elections:

	Rock	W'Chester	Orange	Putnam	Dutchess	Total
Aydelott	308	2147	1340	752	1080	5627
Hall	500	3111	2699	1843	1988	10141
Rigger	88	599	560	310	244	1801
Shuldiner	196	1513	821	338	459	3327
% Counted	100%	92%	96%		96%

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HOFFMAN, RUSSEL RACE TIGHT FOR 18TH DISTRICT GOP NOD

In the GOP primary for the right to take on Democrat Nita Lowey in the 18th Congressional District, late in the evening Richard Hoffman led Jim Russell 2644 to 2340. The district spans parts of Rockland in Westchester, but is predominantly in Westchester, where only 86% of the vote had been tallied as of this writing. The Rockland results were complete.


In another of the closer races of the night in Rockland County, Ellen Jaffey defeated David Fried in the race for the 95th District assembly seat, by a margin of 4322 to 3926. The 95th is the seat held by Ryan Karben until his resignation earlier this year.