Aney Paul Defeats Hank Stewart in Legislative District 14 Primary

Aney Paul, of Nanuet, won the democratic primary against Spring Valley's Hank Stewart, beating him by 239 votes.

Paul has lived in Nanuet for 24 years, is a nurse at Nyack hospital, president of the New City Library Board, has three children and is a member of the Nanuet Rotary club and Nanuet Lions club.

"It feels good," said Paul. "I feel happy, but it's just beginning. The first step is over, but there's still more work to do. We'll work as a team and we will win again."

"It's wonderful. It was a hard fought victory," said Paul's husband Augustine. "It was round one and now it's on to round two. We have a lot of work to do."

Stewart is a small business owner and has been part of the volunteer fire service for 18 years. He's currently a firefighter in Monsey and a member of the Chestnut Ridge Zoning Board of Appeals. He is also a Little League coach and member of the National Board of Advisors for The Drug-Free Home Foundation.

"Unfortunately, the Democratic Primary did not go our way," said Stewart. "I salute my opponent for her hard work and determination. So now our campaign moves on to November." He will still run on the independence and conservative party lines.

"(Eisenpress is) going to be a great family court judge and Aney Paul is going to be an incredible legislator," said Clarkstown Councilwoman Stephanie Hausner. "She still has the general election, but it's a great turnout for these two strong democratic women's primaries."

"I'm really glad the democratic primary is over and that democrats can come together and be unified to make sure that they're represented in the county and that we get the best people elected," said New York Senator David Carlucci. "The primaries are always difficult because we don't have much in terms of identification. You've got to go on purely on what you hear, what people are talking about. My hope is that these people who obviously won will do a great job and the people who lost will continue to stay involved both (in their civic duties) and politically. Having that unity is important."