2020 New York's 22nd congressional district election

2020 New York's 22nd congressional district election

← 2018 November 3, 2020 2022 →
New York's 22nd congressional district
Nominee Claudia Tenney Anthony Brindisi Party Republican Democratic Alliance Conservative Independence Popular vote 156,098 155,989 Percentage 47.80% 47.77%
County Results Tenney:      50–60%      60–70% Brindisi:      50–60%
U.S. Representative before election Anthony Brindisi Democratic Elected U.S. Representative Claudia Tenney Republican

Elections in New York State
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v t e

The 2020 election in New York's 22nd congressional district was part of the 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in the state. The major-party candidates were Democratic incumbent Anthony Brindisi and Republican Claudia Tenney, with a third-party candidate, Libertarian Keith Price, also participating. In the 2018 House race in this district, Brindisi unseated the freshman incumbent Tenney by a margin of less than 1 percent. The rematch was expected to be just as competitive.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the candidates to adjust their campaign activities, holding many via videoconference. Due to the pandemic, New York State allowed any voter in the 2020 primaries and general election to request an absentee ballot and vote by mail: pandemic precautions also slowed poll operations and canvassing. At the close of polls on November 3, Tenney led by 28,000 votes, but up to 70,000 absentee ballots remained to be returned. As the absentee ballots were counted, Tenney's lead shrank to around 100 votes by November 20.

Errors by

The Democratic Party nominated Anthony Brindisi, a resident of Utica,^[12] to run against Tenney in the 2018 race. Brindisi, like Tenney, was a member of the New York State Assembly before running for the House. This race was predicted to be very close: it was noted as vulnerable by both the Democratic and National Republican Congressional Committee,^[13][14] and Politico included it in their top 10 House races.^[15] After a few weeks' delay to count absentee ballots,^[16] Brindisi was announced the winner by 0.9 percent of the vote.^[17] This win was part of a nationwide "blue wave" of Democratic success in the 2018 United States elections,^[18][19][20] and this district was the most Republican district to flip in 2018.^[21][22] In the House, Brindisi co-chaired the Blue Dog Coalition and was a member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.^[23]

On September 30, 2019, Tenney announced her candidacy for the 2020 race,^[24] setting up a rematch with Brindisi.^[25] The race was expected to once again be highly competitive.^{[26][27]: 125–126}

Primaries

Brindisi did not face a primary challenge. Libertarian candidate Keith Price was unopposed for his party's nomination.^[28]

Republican primary

With two years of congressional experience and an endorsement from Trump, Tenney was the front-runner in the primary over her opponent George Phillips.^[29] Tenney faced criticism from Phillips for the attention she attracted for her controversial statements in 2018, her defeat in 2018, and her refusal to participate in primary debates.^[30][31] Phillips and Tenney had previously faced off in the 2016 primary, in which Phillips came in third.^[32]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order allowing vote by mail for any voter who wished to do so.^[33] Postage-paid absentee ballots were mailed automatically to any registered voter who was eligible to vote in a contested primary.^[34] New York's primary election night was June 23, postponed from its usual date. Calling back to the 2018 race and foreshadowing the general election to come, absentee ballots ate away some of Tenney's lead after election night.^[35] Still, she won handily, by a margin of 19.2% over Phillips. He conceded the next day.^[36] This primary did not experience the problems of other primaries in the state that year, many of which did not return results until more than a month later.^[37]

Candidates

Declared

• George Phillips, teacher, former Broome County legislator, and nominee for New York's 22nd congressional district in 2008 and 2010^[38]
• Claudia Tenney, former U.S. representative for New York's 22nd congressional district from 2016 to 2018^[39]

Withdrawn

• Steve Cornwell, Broome County district attorney^[40][41]
• Franklin Sager, teacher^[42][43]

Declined

• Richard C. David, mayor of Binghamton^[44]

Brindisi was initially skeptical of efforts to impeach Trump, calling them divisive, and recommended censure instead.^[53][54][55] However, he eventually supported the

Normal campaign activities were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, starting in March. New York state government responses to the pandemic such as stay-at-home orders and bans on large gatherings halted canvassing and campaign events. Fundraising became difficult during March and April due to the COVID-19 recession. Campaigns found themselves suddenly changing their strategy due the crisis.^{[63][64]: 3–4} Shortly following lockdown in his district, Brindisi

In response to the George Floyd protests, both candidates expressed support for the police.^[69] Brindisi cosponsored a bill called the "Defund Cities that

The presidential race influenced down-ballot campaigning. Brindisi endorsed Biden in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, incurring criticism from the Tenney campaign.^[75] Donald Trump Jr. appeared at a virtual event for Tenney in June.^[76] Joint events to support Trump and Tenney were held by local supporters in Central New York.^[77][78]

As of the end of September, the Brindisi campaign had raised a total of $5.2 million, and the Tenney campaign had raised $1.9 million.^[79] Spending for both candidates was dwarfed by outside spending: OpenSecrets ranked the race 4th in the nation for spending by outside groups. Those groups spent $10.4 million on ads against Brindisi and $7.3 million on ads against Tenney, with ads supporting either candidate amounting to less than a million each.^[80] The National Republican Congressional Committee spent $3.3 million on ads in the district, and the Congressional Leadership Fund spent $2.2 million.^[81][82] According to the Wesleyan Media Project, more campaign ads had been shown in the district than any other House district in the country that year.^[83][84]

In October, the race appeared on NPR and Roll Call's lists of top ten House races.^[85][47]

Endorsements

Polling

Debates

Due to COVID-19 precautions, there were no in-person audiences for these debates.^[104] Tenney and Brindisi also debated privately at a virtual editorial board meeting of The Post-Standard on October 9, before it issued its editorial endorsements.^[105]

General election

The COVID-19 pandemic complicated election administration.

Early voting ran from October 24 to November 1,[133] ending two days before Election Day. The House election shared the ballot with the presidential race, state assembly and senate races, and local races; New York did not have a federal senate race that year. After the polls closed, Tenney led Brindisi by around 28,000 votes, but more than 70,000 absentee ballots had been mailed to voters, and only 45,000 of those had been returned at the time. By state law, any absentee ballot postmarked by Election Day and received by November 10 would be counted.^[134][135] Broome County stated that they received 19,000 absentee ballots, of which 300–350 needed to be cured: the process of determining which ballots needed to be cured took a day in prior elections, but due to the volume of absentee ballots in this race it took three days.^[114] In addition, the government offices of Chenango County were recovering from a ransomware attack. While the Chenango County Board of Elections said that the attack was not election-related and would not affect voting, it did delay tabulation and reporting.^[136][137]

Tenney and Brindisi both filed suit for judicial oversight of the absentee ballot count.^[138] The request came before New York Supreme Court Justice Scott DelConte in Oswego. Justice DelConte allowed the absentee ballot count to begin on the 10th under the court's supervision.^[116][139] Democratic voters were more likely to vote by mail than Republican voters,^[68]: 24 so as absentee ballots were counted, Tenney's lead evaporated. By the 20th, Tenney's lead had shrunk to around 100 votes.^[125] Justice DelConte ordered the counties to provide final vote totals and disputed ballots by November 23.^[140]

Errors

Anticipating a lengthy legal process, Brindisi retained Perkins Coie, often regarded as the premier Democratic election law firm.^[148] Later Marc Elias, chief counsel for many high-profile Democratic campaigns and recounts, would join Brindisi's legal team.^[149]

Based on ballot totals submitted to the court on November 24, Brindisi appeared to have taken the lead by a margin of 12 or 13 votes.

At the beginning of December, the focus narrowed to 809 disputed absentee and affidavit ballots.[154] Tenney's counsel moved to conclude the legal proceedings and declare her the winner, arguing that the records and documentation of the initial canvass were inadequate for the judge to make any rulings on those ballots. Brindisi's counsel argued that the judge had broad powers to order a limited recanvass, and asked for the disputed ballots to be reviewed "in a public hearing with watchers present" in order to create a uniform record. Brindisi's counsel also asked for the unopened Chenango County ballots to be included in that hearing.^[155] Justice DelConte was critical of both arguments, saying that Tenney's lawyers were proposing to accept results known to be inaccurate, and Brindisi's lawyers were asking for a recount restricted to those areas where he was likely to gain votes.^[156] Further complicating matters, an Oneida County election worker tested positive for COVID-19, and was likely to have exposed the rest of the office. While much of the proceedings were being conducted via Zoom videoconferencing, this limited the office's capacity to perform a recount.^[157]

On December 8, DelConte ordered a recount of the disputed absentee and affidavit ballots in all counties.^[158][159] In total, more than 2,600 ballots were subject to the recount, most of them affidavit ballots. Oneida County alone rejected 1,500 affidavit ballots: the Brindisi campaign held that 700 of those were valid because the voters were registered at other addresses or did not fill out a part of the affidavit ballot that could be easily verified. The Oneida County commissioners admitted that they did not follow a 2019 "registration portability" law that provided for a voter's registration to move with them if they move within New York State, even between different counties.^[160] These votes were eventually included in the count.^[161]

The recount process was painstaking, examining individual ballots closely.^{[162][163][164]} One ballot received attention due to a stain that may have been either blood or chocolate. Tenney's lawyers claimed that if it was blood the ballot was traceable to the voter via DNA profiling, so it should be disqualified. Brindisi's lawyers countered that nearly every ballot carried the voter's fingerprints.^[162][163] Chenango County found 12 more ballots in an office drawer:^[142] Tenney's lead nudged up to 19 after all the mislaid Chenango County ballots were counted.^[127] New challenges were raised to 67 Madison County ballots.^[165] Justice DelConte called for the counties to wrap it up before the start of the next Congress,^[166] but Oneida County's recount proceeded more slowly than expected.^[167] As Oneida County's recount progressed, Brindisi briefly gained a 14-vote lead, but Tenney regained a 29-vote margin at the end of the year.^{[12][130][168]: 36–37} A recess was called for the last week of December, although Oneida County continued their recount.^[169]

It became clear that the next Congress would start with the seat empty.

Deliberations continued in the new year. A 2020 reform prevents ballots from being rejected due to minor technical violations, as long as they demonstrate "substantial compliance"; the interpretation and scope of that phrase were debated by the Brindisi and Tenney teams. The teams differed on whether to accept affidavit ballots that were left unsealed, or sealed with "I Voted" stickers; due to COVID-19, some voters and poll workers were reluctant to lick envelopes. There was also discussion of voters who missed the deadline to "cure" their ballots; as the change to election law allowing curing was new for that election, the law had not been settled in court yet. Brindisi's team argued in favor of including affidavit ballots that were not signed, ballots from purged voters, and ballots from voters who voted at the wrong polling site, or voted on a ballot with incorrect lower-level races (such as state Senate or state Assembly). This set of arguments from Brindisi's team was considered implausible under New York election law by an election commissioner from neighboring Onondaga County, and met criticism from the judge. Individual ballots continued to be interrogated as well.[164]^[174] Brindisi's team estimated that, if each remaining ballot was discussed in court, three weeks or more remained in the proceedings.^[175]

The error affecting the largest number of voters came to light in early January, when a clerk from the Oneida County Board of Elections testified that they were unable to process most of a batch of 3,000 voter registration applications received from the state DMV before the election. The clerk said that despite working nights and weekends they were only able to process 640 of them, and pointed to understaffing and COVID-19-related issues. The remainder of the applications, 2,418 in number, were not processed by Election Day.^[176] At least 63 such voters filled out affidavit ballots; more may have simply left the polls when they found out.^[177] The Oneida County Democratic Commissioner testified that she was unaware of the DMV application backlog until it was revealed in court.^[178] Brindisi's team identified ballots from 69 voters and asked for their inclusion, which Tenney's team called "cherry-picking";^[179] instead, DelConte ordered the county to review more than 1,000 affidavit ballots to determine which ones were from voters whose application was not processed on time, and said all such votes would be counted.^[180] Brindisi's team filed an appeal to stop this review;^[181] it was denied by Appellate Division Justice Patrick NeMoyer in a private hearing, while leaving the possibility for the results of the review to be appealed.^[182][183] Tenney's lead grew to 122 after the review.^[131]

On January 29, DelConte's clerk sent a letter to a Tenney campaign volunteer warning her that

Nearing the end, the judge rejected Brindisi's team's arguments on including purged voters (85 ballots) and voters who voted in the wrong polling place (128 ballots) or left their vote in a drop box in the wrong district (51 votes). However, he ruled in favor of including 92 absentee ballots from Madison County that Brindisi's team argued for, and for including 62 ballots that the Tenney team questioned whether the signature on the ballot matched the signature on record. This reduced Tenney's lead by a few votes but she remained ahead.[185]^[186] Brindisi's team asked to halt the certification,^[187] arguing that seating Tenney in Congress would render his appeal moot, but the judge rejected that argument.^[188][189]

On February 5, DelConte ruled that Tenney had won the election by 109 votes, and ordered the state to certify the results immediately.

The court proceedings uncovered a number of violations of election law. The only county to come out blameless was Tioga, only a small portion of which is in the district.[142]^[176]

Results

Results by county:
Tenney:

  50–60%

  60–70%

Brindisi:

  50–60%

Notes

• New York is an
  electoral fusion state, where a candidate may run on multiple party lines.^[199]
• Tenney was also endorsed by the Reform Party of New York State in 2018, and received about a thousand votes on that party line. The Reform Party lost ballot access after the 2018 election.^[200]
• Brindisi was also endorsed by the Women's Equality Party in 2018, and received about 1,300 votes on that party line. The WEP lost ballot access after the 2018 election.^[200]
• No third party candidates ran in the 2018 race.^[198]

Aftermath

This election was widely considered a fiasco.

Politicians and activists of all political alignments agreed that New York's electoral system needed reform.[206] Tenney described it as "very flawed".^[207] Governor Cuomo agreed that the system had flaws, particularly how election commissioners are chosen.^[208] Advocates referred to New York's election system as "antiquated" and lacking transparency,^{[209][210][211]} and needed to reorient their operations to accommodate higher rates of voting by mail.^[206] Like in other states across the country, various election reforms bills were introduced in the legislature.^[204] The state branch of Common Cause noted that New York's 58 boards of elections all had different ways of counting and tabulating ballots, and called for a single consistent standard.^[212][213] Others asked for reforms to make it harder for lawyers to raise frivolous challenges to ballots, using the ballot stained with blood or chocolate as an example.^[162] The state legislature passed a bill that would require boards of elections to count absentee ballots as they arrive,^[206] and eliminated rules that would disqualify ballots with minor technical mistakes. Another bill would let voters track their absentee ballots on a web portal. However, these bills had to compete for attention with other issues in Albany such as COVID-19 and the Andrew Cuomo sexual harassment allegations, so as of August 2021^[update] have not been signed into law.^[214][215] Tenney later formed the House Election Integrity Caucus with co-chair California Representative Mike Garcia, who won his race by only 333 votes. It opposes the For the People Act and other voting laws proposed by Democrats, and promotes laws and efforts to restrict voting and combat voter fraud.^[216] The 2021 New York general election included ballot proposals for amendments to the Constitution of New York implementing same-day voter registration and no-excuse absentee voting, but those proposals were not successful.^[217][218]

The 2020 House elections were difficult for Democrats across the country, with many first-term Democrats losing their seats.^[219] In a congressional district that went for Trump by a 15% margin in 2016 and 11% in 2020, for the congressional race to end in a near-tie in both 2018 and 2020 was unusual. Despite the loss, Brindisi's margin over the presidential vote in his district was among the top 10 among Democratic House candidates that year.^[220][196]

This was the third consecutive race for Tenney where she did not receive a majority of votes, and the second of those that she won. Eight other races in 2020 did not produce a winner with a majority: Iowa's 2nd, Iowa's 3rd, Minnesota's 1st, Minnesota's 2nd, Nevada's 3rd, Texas's 24th, Utah's 4th, and Washington's 10th congressional districts. The election in Iowa's 2nd district was decided by a smaller margin of only 6 votes. In that race, Rita Hart did not drop her challenge until March 31, 2021, but the provisional winner of that race was seated at the start of Congress, so media sources generally referred to the election for New York's 22nd as the last contested race to be decided from 2020.^[221][3]

House vacancy

Brindisi's term expired on January 3, at the end of the

At the beginning of February, the Oneida County Board of Election commissioners—Democrat Carolann Cardone and Republican Rose Grimaldi—were unanimously re-appointed as commissioners by their respective parties.[203] This caused an outcry, since they had been singled out multiple times by the judge during the legal proceedings, and Oneida County was responsible for the most severe errors in the election. Activist organizations had already been calling for Cardone and Grimaldi's resignation;^[230] after this reappointment, those organizations were joined by the editorial board of The Post-Standard.^[231]

According to state law, county board of election commissioners can only be removed by the governor, therefore, on February 9, Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente, a Republican, sent a letter to Governor Cuomo asking for Cardone and Grimaldi's removal;^[232] Brindisi also agreed that the commissioners should be fired.^[233] On the 15th, the New York State Board of Elections called on the commissioners to resign:^[234] Cardone resigned that day, and Grimaldi followed the next.^[235][236] In her resignation letter, Grimaldi cited "the COVID-19 pandemic, changes in election law, changing executive orders and limited resources" as challenges during the election.^[237]

On March 25 the

Electoral commissioners in New York State are subject to very few requirements, and the positions are often given out as party patronage.^[208][201] Proposals for reforming boards of elections included term limits, state funding, the option to bring in state workers to assist a Board of Election under stress, adding basic job requirements such as a college degree and relevant experience, and the abolition of the present system of political appointees in favor of permanent civil service positions.^{[201][203][206]}

See also

References