Here’s how Sean Walter won re-election in Riverhead
Incumbent Town Supervisor Sean Walter made history on election day Tuesday, fending off Democratic challenger Anthony Coates and edging out Republican candidate Jodi Giglio to win reelection on a third-party line by just 436 votes.
Here’s a breakdown of how he won.
We looked at each of Riverhead’s 22 elections districts to see where the candidates scored their wins. Election districts themselves aren’t winner-take-all and some district wins were much closer than others. But at a glance, the results show where candidates were able to draw their support.
One of the keys to Mr. Walter’s victory was his domination in the Wading River districts, where he owns a home and a law practice.
In ED 17, he beat Ms. Giglio by 138 votes. He defeated her by 107 votes in ED 1, earned 50 more votes in ED 20 and grabbed 61 votes to Ms. Giglio’s 25 in ED 10. He won by just three votes in ED 18 to complete a clean sweep of the area.
Overall in Wading River, Mr. Walter earned 871 votes, while Ms. Giglio got 537 and Mr. Coates grabbed 401 votes.
That trend would repeat for the race as a whole, with Mr. Walter beating out Ms. Giglio and Mr. Coates playing spoiler by taking votes that would have pushed Ms. Giglio into the lead.
Mr. Walter also won election district 21 in South Jamesport, which has voted Democrat in the past. He beat Mr. Coates 106-77. Ms. Giglio garnered 98 votes in that district.
While Ms. Giglio led in the polls around downtown Riverhead, the number of votes both she and Mr. Walter received were much closer. In ED 2 she won by 14 votes, she won by 5 in ED 3 and in ED 6 she received 43 votes to Mr. Walter’s 27.
Her biggest win came in ED13 near the east end of Route 58. Ms. Giglio picked up 161 votes in that district to Mr. Walter’s 142 and Mr. Coates’ 98.
Overall, Ms. Giglio won 10 districts and Mr. Walter came out on top in 12 of them. Mr. Coates didn’t win any districts, though he came within two votes of victory in ED 8 in eastern Jamesport.
Photo Credit: Paul Squire.
