Republican Don Miller, R-Clay, lost his re-election bid in a rematch for the 127th State Assembly District seat on Tuesday night.
Miller did not respond to interview requests as votes came in Tuesday night.
Tom Dadey, chairman of the Onondaga County Republican Committee, said the race looked to be over. During a presidential election year, Democrats seem to mobilize and get out to the polls, he said. “That was a competitive race two years ago,” Dadey said. “It’s tough for Republicans to win in a presidential year.”
As of 11:40 p.m., with all 116 districts reported, Miller received 26,035 votes, or 45 percent of the total, according to unofficial results from the Onondaga County Board of Elections. His challenger, Democrat Al Stirpe of North Syracuse, won with 32,013 votes, or 55 percent of the total.
The race was a bitterly fought rematch between Miller and Stirpe. In 2010, Stirpe was a two-term incumbent for what was then the 121st State Assembly District. He lost the seat to Miller by 972 votes. This election season, Miller ran for re-election and Stirpe was looking to reclaim the district seat.
In 2012, the newly drawn 127th State Assembly District replaced the 121st State Assembly District. It covers the towns of Clay, Cicero, Manlius, Pompey, Fabius and Tully.
Going into the election Tuesday, Miller had a slight voter-enrollment advantage. As of August 2012, the district had 90,624 registered voters. Of those, 35 percent were Republicans, 32 percent were Democrats and 26 percent were unaffiliated with a political party.
In fundraising, Miller was slightly ahead of Stirpe. As of Oct. 25, Miller had raised $211,802 compared with Stirpe’s $210,076, according to campaign reports filed with the New York State Board of Elections.
(Laurence Léveillé is a senior majoring in newspaper journalism. Some information for this story was contributed by Democracywise reporter Jon Harris.)
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