UPDATE: 11/09/22 4:40 P.M. Rich David conceded to Lea Webb on Wednesday.
Democrat Lea Webb declared victory over her opponent Republican Rich David in the race for New York’s 52nd State Senate District Tuesday night.
Webb leads by less than two percentage points, or 1,500 votes, according to election night results posted by the state board of elections. She gathered with supporters in Binghamton as the results rolled in.
“I believe, still to this moment right now, that it is not about me. I am really about creating a movement, a people-powered movement, so that upstate communities in our entire state get the resources they deserve,” Webb said.
In her campaign, Webb touted her work on Binghamton’s City Council and her community organizing.
“We started off as a coalition of believers that grew into a collective of volunteers, organizers, voters, supporters. And our goal was very simple, it was to uplift the voices of working people in our community who for years have gone ignored or overlooked,” Webb said.
David served as Binghamton’s mayor for two terms. He told WSKG he would not concede the race Tuesday night.
“We won Cortland County handily, we won Broome County handily. And of course, Tompkins County, which is notoriously a deep blue county, we came up short," David said. "But I believe every vote counts, so we’re just going to wait for all the votes to come in, and then we’ll make a determination at that point in time."
Some absentee as well as affidavit ballots are yet to be counted.
The 52nd state Senate district was redrawn as part of redistricting this year. The new district covers all of Tompkins and Cortland Counties, as well as the western portion of Broome County including the City of Binghamton and Village of Endicott.