It was a marathon primary race in one of the country’s most targeted congressional districts, culminating in a resounding victory for Cait Conley as the Democratic nominee to take on Republican Rep. Mike Lawler.
Yet after more than a year of campaigning, countless candidate forums and several million dollars of donations raised and spent, turnout in the June 23 election in New York’s 17th District was a modest 22%.
Just over one in five registered Democrats had taken the trouble to vote in the five-way race.
That may sound low for a race that’s already in the national spotlight as a crucial battleground district in midterm elections this fall. But it was fairly typical turnout for primaries, which tend to bring out the most politically engaged voters and fall off the radar for many others.
“I’m disappointed that more voters didn’t turn out,” said Westchester County Democratic Chairwoman Suzanne Berger, one of four Democratic county leaders in the 17th district. “But it’s not unusual to have turnout of 25% or less in Democratic primaries.”
How was turnout in NY’s other June 23 primaries?
Media coverage has locked on three New York City congressional races that were won by left-wing candidates backed by the city’s democratic socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani. But for all the post-election hoopla about the continued strength of his movement, two of those races had slightly lower turnout than New York’s 17th District.
It was 20% in the 13th District, where 31-year-old Darializa Avila Chevalier scored a stunning upset over five-term Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the leader of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. And it was around 21% in the Brooklyn-Queens district where Claire Valdez, a fellow democratic socialist, thumped the party establishment’s choice by 20 points.
Turnout was better in two House races in more affluent parts of the city. It was 26% in the 12th District, where Mamdani-backed Brad Lander crushed Rep. Dan Goldman. And in the Manhattan district where Micah Lasher won a crowded race to succeed Rep. Jerry Nadler, turnout was more than 31% — the highest showing of voters in all of New York that day.
Elsewhere in New York, turnout was 22% in a Republican primary won by Anthony Constantino to replace exiting Rep. Elise Stefanik in the 21st District, a vast swath of northeastern New York. And just 19% of Democrats turned out for a Rochester-area 25th District primary in which Rep. Joe Morelle easily fended off a pair of challengers.
All turnout percentages in this story are based on election-night vote tallies and enrollment figures from the state Board of Elections. Those numbers could inch up in coming days after election officials count mailed ballots that came in after the election and affidavit ballots filled out at poll stations and set aside to verify the voter’s registration.
What was turnout in prior NY-17 primaries?
Turnout in the Hudson Valley’s 17th District was even lower four years ago, when then-Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney trounced Democratic rival Alessandra Biaggi with just 18% of voters casting ballots. Voting may have drooped then because the primary took place at an unusual time — pushed to August due to a redistricting fight — and was in a reshaped district, much of which Maloney had never represented.
In 2020, a more robust 37% of Democratic voters turned out for 17th District primary, with Mondaire Jones burying seven rivals to win the nomination. But the district lines were different then and there was an unusual inducement to vote: all New York voters were invited to cast ballots by mail for the first time due to the coronavirus that was surging through the state.
Details on the June 23 NY-17 primary turnout
Conley, an Army combat veteran and former national security official, won the 17th District primary by almost 18 points over her nearest rival, Beth Davidson. The final tallies on election night had Conley at 49% and Davidson at 31%, with Effie Phillips-Staley finishing third at 15%. Mike Sacks and John Cappello each won less than 2% of the vote.
More than 47,000 Democrats cast ballots. Among the district’s four counties, turnout was highest in Westchester at 26%. Trailing behind were Putnam, 23%; Rockland, 19%; and Dutchess, 16%.
Davidson, who is a Rockland County legislator, had unified support from that county’s Hasidic and Orthodox voting blocs, but in many areas the turnout was modest or low. One exception was the village of New Square, a Hasidic community where almost 50% of the 2,348 registered Democrats cast ballots — nearly all of them for Davidson, according to data from the Rockland County Board of Elections.
Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA TODAY Network. Reach him at CMcKenna@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: What voter turnout in NY’s House primaries tells us about key races
Reporting by Chris McKenna, New York State Team / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Chris McKenna, New York State Team | USA TODAY Network
