politics

Supporters of Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino joined him in White Plains to await last night’s election results.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo won re-election to a second term by a 15 percent lead, easily beating his nearest opponent, Republican Rob Astorino.

Cuomo, speaking in midtown Manhattan, to chants of “four more years,” promised to deliver in his next term on a mostly progressive agenda, including enacting a number of items that were stalled in the State Senate over the past couple of years, like an abortion rights provision as part of a women’s rights agenda and public financing of political campaigns.

The race for attorney general is the closest of all the statewide contests.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says he wants another four years to continue what he says have been numerous successes, while his opponent, John Cahill says the incumbent has not been aggressive enough and too cozy with the political establishment in Albany.  

Next month, voters will decide whether they want to change the way redistricting is done in New York, by voting on a ballet amendment that would change the state’s constitution. But there are differences of opinion over whether the amendment actually gets rid of gerrymandering, or not.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo confirms that the U.S. Attorney, Preet Bharara, sent a warning letter to the lawyer representing the now disbanded Moreland Act Commission on ethics, as first reported in the New York Times.

In it, the paper says, Bharara threatened to investigate the governor’s aides and maybe even Cuomo himself for “possible obstruction of justice or witness tampering.”