Grace Lands Third Term as Supervisor; Town Board Race a Nail Biter
Yorktown Supervisor Michael Grace landed a third two-year term Tuesday with a close victory over Councilman Vishnu Patel.
With all districts reporting, Grace, a Republican, received 3,858 votes (53%) to 3,455 (47%) for Patel, who has two years remaining on his four-year Town Board term.
Two years ago, Grace toppled former Councilman Nick Bianco by 1,247 votes during a year when nearly 1,800 more voters turned out to the polls.
Meanwhile, in the race for two available seats on the Town Board, Councilman Thomas Diana, who has served since winning a special election in March, won a full four-year term in convincing fashion with 4,058 votes (29%).
The contest for the second seat is too close to call as Republican Ed Lachterman, president of the Yorktown Lions Club, leads Democrat, Ilan Gilbert, a former town justice, by only two votes, 3,443 to 3,441.
Councilwoman Susan Siegel, a former town supervisor, who has served for the last year on the board after defeating Diana in an earlier special election, finished a distant fourth with 3,225 votes.
“The voters have spoken. What can I say?” Siegel said. “This was a big shock for all that I give to this town and what I offer them. I don’t know what’s going to happen to my town for two years.”
Also too close to call is the race for Town Clerk, where Diana Quast, longtime deputy town clerk who was publicly endorsed by retiring Town Clerk Alice Roker, holds a nine-vote advantage over Grace’s secretary, Mary Capoccia, 3,632 to 3,623.
A clear winner was Republican Town Justice Gary Raniolo, who humbled Democratic challenger Richard Abbate, 4,641 to 2,604 (64% to 36%).
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