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Update: Alessi says he won’t concede

Dan Losquadro

Assembly candidate Dan Losquadro is urging Marc Alessi to concede in the race for the 1st Assembly District, but the incumbent isn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet.

Mr. Losquadro, who holds an 830 vote lead with just 1,000 absentee ballots still to be counted, said in a press release Sunday that he believes Mr. Alessi has “no real chance of winning” at this point.

“After all of the Shelter Island, Riverhead and Southold absentee ballots, affidavits and emergency ballots were counted I still hold over an 800 vote lead,”  Mr. Losquadro (R-Shoreham) said.  “With only Brookhaven left to count—an area where I did extremely well in and a place where I should add to my vote total—I feel that Marc should concede the race on Monday so that our offices can begin the transition process.”

In order to maintain his seat in the Assembly, Mr. Alessi (D-Shoreham) would need to secure 90 percent of the remaining absentee ballots, but he said Monday evening that he won’t concede until after the Suffolk County Board of Elections finishes certifying the vote.

“Ballots are still being counted and several hundred more have been set aside yet to be counted,” Mr. Alessi said in a statement. “Every vote is equally important, and to simply ignore uncounted votes to hasten the process is an insult to the residents of the 1st Assembly District. I will let the Board of Elections let me know who won the race first.”

The two candidates were separated by just 40 votes on election night but Mr. Losquadro increased his lead after the election night results were verified and corrected, and during the absentee ballot count.

A Losquadro win would set up a special election to finish out the final year of his term in the County Legislature, where he serves as minority leader.

Brookhaven Councilwoman Jane Bonner has been reported as a possible Republican/Conservative nominee to replace Mr. Losquadro, whom she served four years as a legislative aide prior to seeking her first public office in 2007.

A source in the Democratic Party did not rule out the possibility of Mr. Alessi pursuing the county seat, should Mr. Losquadro’s lead hold up.