Gennaro-Padavan Coming Down To The Wire

The State Senate has already been wrested from Republican hands, but we still have a race in Queens that is too close to call. Senate District 11 has been in Frank Padavan's hands since 1972, but Councilman Jim Gennaro gave one of the strongest challenges Northeast Queens has seen in decades. Having Barack Obama at the top of Row A (or Row E) didn't hurt either. Despite Frank's good constituent work and ability to pull in the pork, the people of Queens made this written-off race a nail biter.

From Capitol Confidential:

The final remaining question mark in the Senate fight for the majority - the Queens race between Sen. Frank Padavan and James Gennaro - won’t be resolved anytime soon, from what it seems.

There are thousands of paper affidavit ballots that haven’t been counted, and there are plans to recanvass the voting machines this week, going into next week, according to Gennaro consultant Evan Stavisky.

At last count, Padavan had 41,820 votes to Gennaro’s 41,097 votes - a margin of just 723 votes.

I've heard from the Gennaro campaign (one that I've helped out btw) that the margin is 580, but the key is the absentee voters and paper ballot voters. The Gennaro camp is very positive about the results of those uncounted ballots, as well as the recount of the machines. A Gennaro victory is not only good for the people of Northeast Queens, but all of New York by making it harder for the not-so-Democratic Democrats also known as the "Gang of Four."