(Photo: Getty)

Congressman Pete King was not pleased with his fellow Republicans who opposed the federal Hurricane Sandy relief package. Accordingly, Mr. King told us he was shocked to learn that Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who's widely seen as a potential 2016 presidential contender, has been raising cash on Wall Street after voting against the Sandy bill.

"Being from New York we're not supposed to be suckers," Mr. King told Politicker this morning. "It's bad enough that these guys voted against it, that's inexcusable enough. But to have the balls to come in and say, 'We screwed you now make us president?'"

Mr. King went on to urge Empire State donors to cut off Mr. Rubio and any other member of Congress who "threw a knife in the back in New York" by voting "no" on the bill.

"Rubio and these other Republican candidates are coming to New York to raise money," he said. "I don't think any senator or congressman who voted against aid for Sandy should get one nickel from New York."

Mr. King, of course, wasn't the only Republican to criticize House Republicans for initially blocking the aid. Notably, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie declared that the cynicism involved was "why the American people hate Congress." In his conversation with Politicker, Mr. King connected the Conservative Political Action Conference's recent snub of Mr. Christie to the Sandy vote.

"They are more and more taking on this anti-Northeast attitude," Mr. King said of his party. "We say fine, if you want to be anti-Northeast, then the Northeast is going to be anti-them."

(Photo: Facebook)

With all absentee and affidavit votes counted, Mr. Richards padded his razor-thin 26-vote Election Day margin with another 133 votes, while his main competitor, Pesach Osina, only gathered an additional 80. This brought the unofficial tally to 2,646 for Mr. Richards and 2,567 for Mr. Osina, a wide enough margin to avoid an automatic recount. The results will be certified next week.

"We have a lot of work to do in the district," Mr. Richards told Politicker at the Queens Board of Elections. "We have to also make sure we reconcile the communities. I think that it's important that all communities are working together. You know, Pesach ran a great campaign, I have no ill will towards him and I look forward to working with every community."

Mr. Richards was alluding to the controversy generated around Mr. Osina's candidacy. As an Orthodox Jew running in a majority-black district, Mr. Osina faced backlash from some members of the southeast Queens black community, notably Bishop Charles Norris, who warned the 8-way race would allow "the young Jewish boy from the Rockaways" to win with a low plurality of the vote.

Despite the narrow loss, Mr. Osina's supporters were buoyant about the election's outcome because it demonstrated their ability to mobilize voters in their small but growing Far Rockaway enclave.

"We didn't even run to win the seat," said Moshe Friedman, an Orthodox Jewish political operative who worked on Mr. Osina's campaign. "We were running so people should go out and understand that we could swing an election any way we want. This is going to happen in the primary. Richards will not go out tomorrow and say, 'Let me ignore that community.' Because we're going to be organized and bring out the vote. There's no way we would have won the [September] primary any how. .... We wish good luck and we're looking forward to working with him."

The outcome of the election did not upset Mr. Osina's election lawyer, Jerry Goldfeder, either.

"No involvement by lawyers," he said. "The Board personnel worked very well, the voters spoke. That's how it should be."

Donovan Richards

Flanked by a coterie of elected officials, Donovan Richards declared victory last night in a wide-open, eight-way Queens City Council special election. Seven miles south, Pesach Osina did the same exact thing.

With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. Richards leads Mr. Osina by just 26 votes, easily making the 31st District race too close for observers to call. Vote counting ceased at midnight and will resume today, but at last glance, Mr. Richards had 2,513 votes to Mr. Osina's 2,487. In addition to a potentially missing memory stick from a ballot scanner, absentee and paper ballots still need to be counted. A recount is also likely, but each candidate acted like the undisputed victors nevertheless.

"I'm calling on the community tonight to put aside their differences. Those who ran in this election, let's not be bitter against each other," Mr. Richards said at a bustling lounge in Laurelton, Queens. "If you are really for the community, if you are truly for the community, whether it is the Orthodox Jewish community, whether it is the African-American community, whether it is the Jamaican community, whether it is the Haitian community, whether it is our white brothers and sisters, I am calling on you to get your hands dirty and get in here. And let's make sure we are not losing young people to this gun violence on these streets."

"And let's stop the foolish conversation of two councilmen in the district. The numbers do not lie, we've seen the numbers, we have declared victory tonight, we are victorious and we are ready to march on," Mr. Richards later added.

For his part, Mr. Osina declared victory even before Mr. Richards did.

"While we are still uncertain of the total numbers, when every vote is counted, we will be victorious," Mr. Osina told his supporters. "This was an honest, fair race and I would like to thank my opponents for everything they have done on behalf of the community."

The race grew heated when a fiery clergyman, Bishop Charles Norris, controversially called for several of the black candidates to step aside in the race so Mr. Osina, the only white and Jewish contender, would not win. The district, which includes an Orthodox Jewish enclave in Far Rockaway, is 68 percent black and Mr. Norris quite bluntly argued that Mr. Osina, a former staffer to Queens Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder, could not serve its needs. None heeded his call, however, and the district's Jewish community rallied around Mr. Osina in response. Their ambitious get-out-the-vote effort, which included a roving sound truck playing Hebrew-language songs on Mr. Osina's behalf, seemed to pay off, matching Mr. Richards's superior fundraising and bevy of labor endorsements.

An automatic recount is mandated by state law if the final margin is less than 0.5 percent of the total vote. As of this writing, that would mean approximately 41 votes, although the number is subject to change as absentee and affidavit ballots are tabulated, or if the occasionally unpredictable Board of Elections further adjusts the final number.

New York City politicos may remember a similarly heated situation last year when Brooklyn State Senate candidates Lew Fidler and David Storobin both declared victory in their own special election. In that race, after 22,000 votes cast and multiple months of counting and litigation, Mr. Storobin prevailed by a mere 13 votes. Time will tell if Mr. Osina and Mr. Richards face that level of drama, but regardless, whoever wins will have only a short time in office before having to face the voters again in the city's regularly scheduled September primary.

Additional reporting by Colin Campbell.

The State Assembly map in NYC for net year.

With last night's elections, a number of seats changed hands between the Democratic and Republican parties across New York State, and indeed the entire country. But in the five boroughs of New York City, it was a one-way street.

At the congressional level, for example, the city lost half its Republican representation with the exit of Queens' Bob Turner, who unsuccessfully ran for his party's nomination for the U.S. Senate. GOP Councilman Dan Halloran had his sights on the remnants of Mr. Turner's district in northeastern part of the borough, but the area's solidly Democratic tendencies allowed Assemblywoman Grace Meng to easily leap over Mr. Halloran and secure a new gig in Washington D.C.

While in the State Legislature, Republicans had specifically targeted Democratic Senator Joe Addabbo, reshaping his district to contain every single conservative-minded voter in eastern Queens. In addition, they deployed their top recruit in rising GOP star Eric Ulrich, who enjoyed a fundraising advantage throughout the race. Nevertheless, Mr. Addabbo held on, landing the coveted endorsement of Governor Andrew Cuomo as well as a big push from organized labor. Hurricane Sandy, which devastated many of the conservative areas drawn into Mr. Addabbo's district, didn't help Mr. Ulrich's electoral fortunes either, but it's not clear it was decisive in the outcome.

While in Brooklyn, Republicans had another loss when incumbent David Storobin couldn't muster up enough votes against Democratic former Councilman Simcha Felder. Mr. Felder, cozy with the Republican conference before the election, still might end up on the Republican team, but his victory demonstrated the increasingly Republican tendencies of the city's Orthodox Jewish population aren't enough when a socially conservative Democrat is on the ticket and backed by the community's political institutions. Senator Marty Golden, occupying a neighboring district, won with a comfortable margin last night and will now be the only Republican state legislator calling a borough other than Staten Island his home.

(At the City Council level, there are two Queens lawmakers outside of Staten Island, Mr. Ulrich and Mr. Halloran, mentioned above.)

In the State Assembly, it's a similar story but with districts gerrymandered to favor Democrats. Outside of a couple dozen blocks in Bay Ridge represented by Staten Island's Nicole Malliotakis, no part of Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx or Manhattan has GOP representation in the state's lower chamber. Even in conservative areas, Republican candidates failed to make a dent. Democratic Assemblyman Steve Cymbrowitz, for example, represents the heart of a conservative Russian community in southeastern Brooklyn, but managed an easy win thanks to his primary challenger, Ben Akselrod, staying on the Independence Party's line and grabbing almost 20 percent of the vote in the general election.

In some ways, Staten Island isn't even as much of a Republican stronghold it once was. In the heavily conservative South Shore, Assemblyman-Elect Joe Borelli will hold onto a Republican seat and State Senator Andy Lanza won't be going anywhere anytime soon, but Democrats have a decent presence themselves in other local officials. Indeed, in a bit of a shocker, President Barack Obama apparently managed to edge out Mitt Romney on the island, a benchmark he couldn't cross with his stronger performance in the 2008 presidential race.

The Grand Old Party did have one marquee victory, however, in the re-election of Staten Island's Congressman Michael Grimm, who managed to grab a number of Mr. Obama's supporters as he faced off against Democrat Mark Murphy. Although a federal investigation and other controversies dogged the incumbent, the electorate wasn't willing to embrace the negative headlines without solid evidence of wrongdoing present. Mr. Grimm's biography as veteran and former F.B.I. agent, and his status as one of the most active freshman legislators in the House of Representatives, certainly didn't hurt either.

This all isn't to say the Republicans aren't poised to make gains in 2013's City Council races and another round of congressional and state races in 2014; there are undoubtedly a number of potential pickup opportunities. Just a simple note that, after yesterday, the GOP's political landscape tilted even further towards the city's smallest borough.

(Photo: Getty)

No surprises here. President Barack Obama and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand both emerged victorious in New York State tonight.

Although countless voters remain in line at New York City precincts, which are required to remain open for all voters who showed up before 9 p.m., the Empire State's overall preference for Democrats was still enough to overwhelm any ambiguity as to the ultimate victor.

Ms. Gillibrand, who dominated in pre-election polling and had a mammoth campaign war chest, was not expected to face a serious threat today. Her opponent, Republican attorney Wendy Long, waged an aggressive and energetic campaign, but, thanks to a lack in resources, never quite caught on. This victory will be Ms. Gillibrand's second in four years. In 2010, she won the 2-year remainder of then-Senator Hillary Clinton's term after the incumbent left to join the Obama administration.

Attention now will be paid to the downballot races, especially for the U.S. House where the redistricting process left an unusually large swath of competitive campaigns. In the New York City metropolitan area, these include the races of Long Island's Democratic incumbent, Tim Bishop, and GOP Representatives Michael Grimm and Nan Hayworth in Staten Island and the Hudson Valley respectively. Control of the New York State Senate could also potentially be in the air if Democratic candidates overperform expectations in a number of key races as well.

Nationwide, the Democratic Party has done well in U.S. Senate races so far. Connecticut's Chris Murphy, Massachusetts' Elizabeth Warren, Pennsylvania's Bob Casey and Florida's Bill Nelson have all been projected to win. In Indiana, Democrat Joe Donelly is currently leading Richard Mourdock, and, in Maine, Independent Angus King, who's expected to side with the Democrats, is the projected winner.

Rockaway, Queens. (Photo: Getty)

Earlier this afternoon, "a group of irate Orthodox community leaders" held a conference call to protest poll site changes implemented in the Far Rockaway neighborhood of Queens. In the call, local Jewish leaders alleged their new voting location was designed to dampen turnout in their ideologically conservative community as it struggles to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy's devastation.

"We're a group of people who really, really suffered tremendously," Richard Altabe, a board member of the Far Rockaway Jewish Alliance, said. "Or voting rights are about to be taken away from us. It's going to be difficult enough to get people to vote....Our ability to speak and have our voices heard is going to be squashed by circumstances. I'm really, really horrified."

The new poll site in Far Rockaway, the leaders said, was a mile away from their current one. Eli Shapiro, of the Far Rockaway Jewish Alliance, claimed they presented a closer, alternative site to the Board of Elections but were shut down

"We've been told that the Democratic commissioner won't sign off on the change of location," Mr. Shapiro said, but he was unable to elaborate further on the specifics.

Mr. Shapiro and Mr. Altabe both represent organizations that formally endorsed GOP Councilman Eric Ulrich's campaign against Democratic Senator Joe Addabbo, which is among the most highly-watched in the entire state. Mr. Ulrich's campaign organized the conference call.

"Absolutely. Why else did they do that? Why else would they disenfranchise a community?" Mr. Altabe said when asked if it was a conspiracy to boost Mr. Addabbo's reelection bid. "I would not like to believe that Joe Addabbo himself would want such a thing. Even though we supported one candidate over the other, we don't believe Joe Addabbo to be an evil person."

Others have also sounded the alarm over the BOE's Election Day plans tomorrow, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg. As of this writing, the Board took down their list of poll site changes online, and the hotline number for more information, 1-866-VOTE-NYC, results in a dial tone. An alternative number provided by good goverment groups, 1-866-OUR-VOTE, is available, however.

BOE Commissioner J.C. Polanco said his agency is working "around the clock" to ensure all New Yorkers can vote tomorrow.

J.C. Polanco (Photo: NY1)

New York City Board of Elections Commissioner J.C. Polanco isn't happy that State Senator Adriano Espaillat and newspaper editorials are bashing the agency's ballot-counting operation after last Tuesday's vote. On Inside City Hall last night, Mr. Palanco simply unloaded on all of them, calling allegations that they may have tilted the process towards Mr. Espaillat's rival, Rep. Charlie Rangel, "vicious," "malicious," "false," "terrible" and more.

"When we allow for the editorials in New York City to tell our story, when we allow for columnists and other individuals and elected officials who honestly are doing a disservice to their community by not understanding election law, ... [to be] going out there and blasting the hardworking men and women at the Board of Elections, we think it's appalling," he argued.

Mr. Palanco was particularly upset with Mr. Espaillat and his close ally, Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, for highlighting "irregularities" on Election Day.

"We have spent the last week listening to Senator Espaillat and Councilman Rodriguez launch terrible attacks, malicious, vicious and false allegations against the hardworking men and women at the New York City Board of Elections," he said. "I frankly think should apologize not only to the commissioners, but the countless workers we have at the board."

The commissioner also argued that Mr. Espaillat was wrong when he charged that bilingual poll site workers were reduced in heavily Latino areas. Mr. Espaillat, of course, is of Dominican descent and his electoral base includes many voters whose English language skills are still rudimentary.

"Absolutely not, which is why it's so appalling to hear these allegations," he responded when asked if he heard any of these sorts of complaints. "We understand the importance of having a Spanish translator at the poll sites. We spent the entire day visiting every single poll site in our county. We would receive phone calls if there were any issues. Guess what? There weren't any issues!"

Mr. Palanco can probably expect the criticism to continue, however. Earlier this morning, the Daily News reported that the Board of Election official currently overseeing the count met with key campaign operatives for Mr. Rangel mere days before the election.

The scene from today's press conference.

Welcome to the Florida of Upper Manhattan and the Bronx.

State Senator Adriano Espaillat, who had originally conceded the race against Congressman Charlie Rangel last Tuesday, clearly isn't ready to go there just yet. At a packed press conference held in front of a senior center on 187th Street, Mr. Espaillat slammed the Board of Elections, lobbed allegations of voter suppression, and explained his plans going forward.

"Mayor Bloomberg said a couple days ago that this electoral process is easily corruptible, that, in fact, the Board of Elections is a board that the average New Yorker cannot trust," Mr. Espaillat declared. "I agree with him."

"Our country has to rely on an election process and an election system that is verifiable, that is transparent and brings about confidence to everybody," he continued. "We cannot have a Florida type situation in New York State, it's just impossible that in the northeast of our country, that we have a situation similar to what happened in Florida between Gore and Bush!"

Later this afternoon, his campaign will head to court to seek an injunction to allow more transparency in the tallying process. Describing the organization's secrecy as illegal, Mr. Espaillat vowed to have every vote counted (for every candidate in the race, he stressed).

"If we cannot get relief in the process, we will go to the courts, and we will go to the final, final round, to ensure every vote ... is counted, so that tomorrow, when the senior citizen or the young voter goes to the polls, they can be reassured that this democratic process works for them and not that it is rigged, or perhaps that there are backroom strategists put in place to prevent them from voting or to skew the results."

Mr. Espaillat cited a number of what he described as "irregularities" on Election Day, including an unusual lack of bilingual inspectors, the absence mailed notifications alerting voters to the new Election Day date this year, and Spanish language speakers being handed affidavit ballots instead of regular ones.

"I have family members that were prime voters that go out to vote every single year, and when they went to vote, they were told this year that their name was not the list," he said.

He also argued that the missing precincts came overwhelmingly from his base of support in the Latino communities of northern Manhattan and the Bronx, as opposed to the Harlem neighborhoods that favored Mr. Rangel.

"We had to beat up the Board of Elections to give us some level of answers, that 70 Electoral Districts came in at zero? That's totally unacceptable in New York State. I thought that stuff happened in Florida or Mississippi somewhere, but not here," he explained, adding later, "I believe it was 23 ED's that were reported as zero in the Bronx. There were 24 ED's right here in my original 72nd Assembly District where I represented for 13 years, 13 ... in the 71st. And only 7 in Harlem and East Harlem."

"I think that's highly irregular."

Lew Fidler and David Storobin (Photo: Facebook)

Republican David Storobin is currently on track to become a New York State Senator in the epic, never-ending special election to replace corrupt Senator -- and future inmate -- Carl Kruger. The votes, cast March 20th, have all been counted, but an automatic hand recount of all 20,000 ballots was triggered due to the closeness of the end count -- a lead by Mr. Storobin of 27 votes.

"So, they are 10% through with the first ever re canvass of paper ballots from the scanners," the Democratic candidate, Lew Fidler, wrote on Facebook last night, noting, however, that there is still some hope as the new voting machines did show variances with the original count even though the net margin did not change.

"While we still trail by 27 votes, there are discrepancies in the count so far. (The machines are therefore not perfect.)," he continued. "We are going to count all the votes and then the world will finally have the answer to the question that has burned since March 20th....who is the real Mayor of Mooseport?"

Because the legislative session ends in June, whoever the ultimate winner is will have limited time to actually legislate before facing reelection in a substantially different district. Thus, Mr. Storobin has been busy this week introducing himself to various community boards in southern Brooklyn, including the Boro Park-based CB12 last night and the Bay Ridge-based CB10 the evening prior (although the latter doesn't have much overlap with even the new district).

David Storobin (Photo: YouTube)

The March 20th special election for the State Senate in southeastern Brooklyn just got one big step closer to a resolution earlier today when over a hundred ballots that were alleged to be fraudulent by the Democratic candidate, Lew Fidler, were counted after a judge dismissed his lawsuit last week. The Republican candidate, David Storobin, is now 27 votes ahead.

However, New York State law mandates an automatic hand recount of all of the ballots counted in an election if the final margin is less than 0.5% of the total votes cast, and with over 20,000 ballots in this election, Mr. Storobin's margin is well, well within that threshold.

So, while Mr. Storobin currently holds the advantage, this election is still far from being over and either candidate has a plausible path to victory.

Ultimately, this elongated process has minimized some of the influence the eventual winner will yield. Unless Governor Cuomo declares an extended legislative session, there won't be a great number of votes either candidate would be able to cast in Albany before the Legislature adjourns. And, with the district in question being somewhat dismantled in redistricting, whoever wins would be running for reelection in a substantially different district without the typical benefits of incumbency.

Update: The official tally was 3 points more in favor of Mr. Storobin than the unofficial results, which had the candidate up 24.