2010 United States Senate election in New York

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2010 United States Senate election in New York
Flag of New York (1901-2020).svg
  2004 November 2, 2010 2016  
  Chuck Schumer official photo (3x4a).jpg Jay Townsend.png
Nominee Chuck Schumer Jay Townsend
Party Democratic Republican
Alliance Conservative
Popular vote3,047,1111,479,724
Percentage66.33%32.21%

2010 United States Senate election in New York results map by county.svg
County results
Schumer:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90%
Townsend:     40–50%     50–60%

U.S. senator before election

Chuck Schumer
Democratic

Elected U.S. Senator

Chuck Schumer
Democratic

The 2010 United States Senate election in New York took place on November 2, 2010, along with elections to the United States Senate in other states, as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer won re-election to a third term. Schumer won every county except for Wyoming, Tioga, and Hamilton counties. [1]

Contents

Background

In the 2004 U.S. Senate election, Schumer had defeated Republican Assemblyman Howard Mills by a 71 to 24 percent margin. Schumer was highly popular in New York, and it was believed that any Republican contender would likely not fare well against him in 2010. [2] Schumer was heavily favored to retain his seat. [3]

In addition to this regular election, there was also a special election to fill the Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton, who became the United States Secretary of State on January 21, 2009. In addition, there was the New York gubernatorial election. The existence of two other top-level statewide races, one with a Democratic incumbent perceived as vulnerable and the other an open race, respectively, [4] was believed to lead major New York Republicans to gravitate towards them rather than challenge the popular Schumer. [2] [5]

Republican nomination

Convention

Candidates

  • Gary Berntsen, retired CIA officer, received the party's endorsement on the second round of balloting [6]
  • Martin Chicon, candidate for New York Senate in 2008 [7] and New York Republican State Committee member from upper Manhattan.
  • George Maragos, Nassau County Comptroller [8]
  • James Staudenraus, Long Island resident and 2008 state assembly candidate [9]
  • Jay Townsend, Republican strategist (finished second and also qualified for the primary) [6]

Results

Only two candidates, Berntsen and Townsend, obtained at least 25% of the vote at the New York State Republican Convention on June 1, 2010. Berntsen came in first, [10] but still needed to win the primary in order to win the Republican nomination. Berntsen lost the primary to Jay Townsend. [11]

Primary

Candidates

Results

Results by county:
.mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{}
Townsend
50-60%
60-70%
70-80%
Berntsen
50-60%
60-70% New York U.S. Senate Republican primary, 2010.svg
Results by county:
  Townsend
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
  •   70–80%
  Berntsen
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
Republican primary results [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Jay Townsend 234,440 55.41%
Republican Gary Berntsen188,62844.59%
Total votes423,068 100.00%

General election

Candidates

Predictions

SourceRankingAs of
Cook Political Report [13] Solid DOctober 26, 2010
Rothenberg [14] Safe DOctober 22, 2010
RealClearPolitics [15] Safe DOctober 26, 2010
Sabato's Crystal Ball [16] Safe DOctober 21, 2010
CQ Politics [17] Safe DOctober 26, 2010

Fundraising

Candidate (party)ReceiptsDisbursementsCash on handDebt
Chuck Schumer (D)$17,302,006$11,824,587$16,048,482$0
Jay Townsend (R)$197,365$180,693$16,671$105,854
Source: Federal Election Commission [18]

Polling

Poll sourceDate(s)
administered
Sample
size
Margin
of error
Chuck
Schumer (D)
Jay
Townsend (R)
OtherUndecided
Siena College May 17–20, 2010808± 3.4%63%24%13%
Siena College June 7–9, 2010808± 3.4%60%26%14%
Rasmussen Reports June 16, 2010500± 4.5%54%33%6%6%
Siena College July 12, 2010808± 3.4%63%26%13%
Rasmussen Reports September 16, 2010500± 4.5%58%36%3%4%
Survey USA September 20, 20101,000± 4.2%54%33%10%3%
Angus Reid Public Opinion October 7, 2010500± 4.5%63%27%6%
Rasmussen Reports October 19, 2010500± 4.5%59%31%5%5%
Angus Reid Public Opinion October 28–29, 2010541± 4.2%61%35%4%
Siena College October 27–30, 2010603± 4.0%64%32%2%

Results

United States Senate election in New York, 2010 [19] [20]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Democratic Chuck Schumer2,686,04358.47%
Working Families Chuck Schumer183,6724.00%
Independence Chuck Schumer177,3963.86%
TotalChuck Schumer (incumbent)3,047,11166.33%−5.89
Republican Jay Townsend1,238,94726.97%
Conservative Jay Townsend240,7775.24%
TotalJay Townsend1,479,72432.21%+8.02
Green Colia Clark42,3400.92%+0.62
Libertarian Randy Credico24,8630.54%+0.24
Total votes4,594,038 100.00% N/A
Democratic hold

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Aftermath

Credico sued the New York State Board of Elections under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because of this unfair treatment regarding ballot access. Despite being nominated by both the Libertarian Party and the Anti-Prohibition Party, in most jurisdictions, he only appeared on the ballot once. On June 19, 2013, the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York ruled in favor of Credico. [21] The New York State Board of Elections did not appeal this decision. [22]

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References

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  6. 1 2 McKenna, Chris (June 2, 2010). "Townsend trails Berntsen at state GOP convention". Times Herald-Record . Archived from the original on June 16, 2011. Retrieved August 17, 2010.
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  11. "Townsend Wins GOP Primary For Senate Seat". CBS New York. Associated Press. September 14, 2010. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
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  13. "Senate". Cook Political Report . Retrieved October 26, 2010.
  14. "Senate Ratings". Rothenberg Political Report . Retrieved October 26, 2010.
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  16. "2010 Senate Ratings". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Archived from the original on October 28, 2010. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
  17. "Race Ratings Chart: Senate". CQ Politics. Archived from the original on October 28, 2010. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
  18. "2010 House and Senate Campaign Finance for New York". fec.gov. Retrieved July 25, 2010.[ permanent dead link ]
  19. "New York Election Results". The New York Times.
  20. "NYS Board of Elections U.S. Senator Election Returns November 2, 2010" (PDF). New York State BOE. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 30, 2016. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
  21. "New York Libertarian Party Wins Lawsuit Against Discriminatory Election Law | Ballot Access News". June 20, 2013.
  22. "New York State Changes Mind, Won't Appeal Credico Decision | Ballot Access News". July 12, 2013.