Upstate Republicans yesterday got an electoral lift from Gov. Spitzer‘s controversial plan to allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.
But the issue played a lesser role on Long Island, where Democrats expanded their majority in the Suffolk County Legislature.
They claimed they held on to their one-seat majority on the Nassau Legislature, although the GOP had not conceded by early today.
Republicans won the county-executive posts in Erie and Onondaga counties and held onto one in Dutchess.
They maintained a slim majority of the county Legislature in Monroe County.
“Without Spitzer’s plan, we probably wouldn’t have held on to the legislature,” said Monroe County Republican Chairman Steve Minarik, whose party lost two seats but maintained a one-seat majority.
One Democrat who won bigtime in the Buffalo area was Erie County clerk Kathy Hochl.
She was appointed by Spitzer earlier this year, but campaigned strongly against his license plan.
In the city, Staten Island Republican DA Daniel Donovan won re-election over Democrat Mike Ryan.
Elsewhere nationwide:
* New Jersey voters rejected a state proposal to borrow $450 million over 10 years to finance stem-cell research.
* Kentucky Democrats bounced scandal-plagued Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher from office.
* Mississippi’s Republican governor, Haley Barbour – the only Gulf politician to emerge unscathed from Hurricane Katrina – easily won re-election.
* San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who admitted this year that he had a drinking problem and an affair with a close aide’s wife, cruised to a smooth re-election victory.