Although results weren’t officially certified, the Rochester Chronicle reported that “Democrats appear to have taken control of the Monroe County Legislature for the first time in nearly 30 years.” (The county in question is in New York state.) A change in the outlook for local Democrats emerged after the tabulation of absentee and provisional ballots in two key races — adding in those votes put two Democratic incumbents in the lead in their respective races, after they’d previously shown up behind their Republican challengers in earlier, incomplete iterations of the results. The absentee and provisional ballots also “solidified Democratic candidate Dave Long’s victory over Legislature President Dr. Joe Carbone, R-Irondequoit,” the Democrat & Chronicle added.
Notably, Sabrina LaMar — a local Democratic legislator who won re-election — has previously voted with Republicans on a selection of key issues, meaning that the Democratic majority in the county’s government could end up with hurdles similar to those faced by the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate, where Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) have consistently held up progress with their so-called moderate agenda. In Monroe County, Democrats seemed set for a slim majority, with 15 seats to 14 held by Republicans, making every vote count. LaMar, for her part, said that she didn’t “know what moving forward looks like as of now” after the election.
Still, Democrats scored significant victories in local elections elsewhere in the country, too. Democrats flipped a net total of over 30 municipal seats across Georgia in this year’s elections, including (per the Georgia Democratic Party) “mayorships in Cairo, Stone Mountain, Hampton, and McDonough and crucial city council seats in Lawrenceville, Peachtree Corners, Sandy Springs, Tucker, Stone Mountain, Dunwoody, Brookhaven, Kennesaw, and Powder Springs.” Rep. Nikema Williams (D-Ga.), who chairs the Georgia Democratic Party, said that “the 2021 municipal elections show that with strong candidates, strategic organizing, and early investments, Georgia Democrats are well-positioned to continue mobilizing voters and flipping seats throughout the state in 2022 and beyond.”
