Astorino v Harckham: 40th NY Senate District Results

This article was updated at 12:16 a.m.

All 63 seats in the New York State Senate were up for election in 2020. One of the most contentious local races pitted two veteran politicians with widely divergent views as Rob Astorino sought to unseat Pete Harckham in the 40th New York Senate District.

With 68 of 277 districts reporting as of 11:47 p.m., the New York State Board of Elections reported Harckham with 46 percent of the vote and Astorino with 51 percent.

The 40th Senate District includes Briarcliff Manor, Buchanan, Cortlandt, Croton-on-Hudson, Lewisboro, Mount Kisco, Mount Pleasant, New Castle, North Salem, Peekskill, Pleasantville, Pound Ridge, Sleepy Hollow, Somers and Yorktown in Westchester County; Brewster, Carmel, Patterson and Southeast in Putnam County; and Beekman and Pawling in Dutchess County.

Astorino and Harckham worked together and against each other when the former was Westchester County Executive and the latter was majority leader at the Board of Legislators.

Harckham, who lives in North Salem, defeated two-term incumbent Terrence Murphy, a strong supporter of President Donald Trump, in 2018. His victory was part of the blue wave nationally and helped put Democrats in control of the New York State Senate for the first time in years.

District 40 had been reliably conservative. Greg Ball held the seat before Murphy, who first won the seat in 2014.

Astorino hoped to switch it back. He ran on the Republican, Conservative and Rebuild Our State lines on the ballot. SEE: Meet The Candidate: Astorino For State Senate

"New York is facing an economic disaster, and one-party rule in Albany is going to make it worse," he told Patch in October.

Astorino, who as Westchester County Executive worked to keep tax increases to a minimum, said it was essential to stop lawmakers in Albany from raising taxes on New Yorkers struggling because of the pandemic.

The candidates also differed on the state's criminal justice reforms, which were passed as part of the budget in 2019. Astorino said eliminating cash bail for many non-violent offenses made New York's justice system even more of a revolving door for accused and career criminals. Harckham, who backed the amended bail reform in 2020, said the old system simply meant people with money were freed after arrest while poor people languished in jail without a trial.

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