Kleinhandler and Mele still close

Last night the Election Watch Parties of Anthony Mele and York Kleinhandler went into the wee hours. As of this morning, they're still close in their race.

Both are running for the GOP line for the the 17th Congressional District. Winning this primary means a chance at beating uncontested incumbent Eliot Engel (D) who has kept the seat for 22 years. Mele's watch party began setting up at 3pm yesterday at the Hilton Hotel in Pearl River and Kleinhandler's watch party began at 8:30pm at the Rockland County Republican Headquarters in New City.

Both sides kept refreshing their laptops and phones. As of 2am last night, both sides still had about 10 people left that had held on through the sluggish results and both sides were still hopeful. 

Kleinhandler's wife Jackie was there throughout most of the night.

"My husband was in Afghanistan last year. We talked about what he would do when he returned and he mentioned several things," she said adding that politics and getting a Master's degree were two of his many ideas. "He wrote an email saying he was a soldier and he wanted to make a difference and run. In February he came back and everything else is history."

Mele supporters Adriana Montedoro and Vincenza Dimuro both had good words to say about his intellect.

"He's incredibly knowledgeable in the constitution. I'm always learning something extraordinary about him," Montedoro said. "He's a natural leader. He should be in Congress."

"I just feel like tony is the most qualified. He's a national security expert," Dimuro said. "He believes in the foundation of the country."

This district includes:

• part of the Bronx
• Mount Vernon
• part of Yonkers
• part of Hastings-on-Hudson
• part of Dobbs Ferry
• part of Irvington
• Tarrytown
• Orangetown
• part of Clarkstown
• Ramapo

Kleinhander also has the Conservative line