A Rerun May Be In The Making In 18th District GOP Congressional Primary

(UPDATED TO REVISE VOTE COUNT: As of about 4:45 pm Wednesday, and with 98% of election-day ballots and 89% of absentee ballots counted in Westchester, Hoffman holds a 360 vote lead in Westchester and and 261 vote lead including results from Rockland.)



Richard Hoffman and James Russell are still waiting to get final word on their Congressional primary race from the Westchester County Board of Elections.

Hoffman and Russell, who waited nearly two weeks for their laat primary battle to end as absentee ballots came trickling in, may face a similar wait this year.

Ninety-three percent of election-day votes and 85% of absentee ballots have now been counted in Westchester, and Hoffman leads Russell in the battle for the GOP nomination for the 18th Congressional District by a 2793 to 2428 count. That's a 365 vote difference. However, Rusell beat Hoffman in Rockland county by 99 votes, so that cuts the lead to 266.

Last night at around midnight, Hoffman had a combined two-county lead of 304 votes, with 86% counted in Westchester and all polling-place votes counted in Rockland.

We'll keep watching as the vote counting continues and keep you posted.

The winner will take on incumbent Democrat Nita Lowey. Hoffman was defeated by Lowey in 2004.