Key seats in Tioga County turn from red to blue

By Wendy Post —

The unofficial election results arrived overnight on Tuesday in Tioga County, revealing two wins in particular that flipped local seats from red to blue.

In District 2 on the County’s Legislature, Jo Ellen Rose, a Democrat, defeated Jenny Ceccherelli, a Republican, by a margin of approximately 100 votes.

In a tight race for Owego’s Town Council, the two leading candidates at the end of the night were Democratic candidate Emily McClintock, who came in narrowly above Republican candidate Dean Morgan, who retained his seat. Morgan, alternatively, defeated incumbent Craig Jochum by six votes, and Democrat Kyle Wipert received 24.20% of the votes, which wasn’t enough to secure one of the two available seats.

According to the outgoing Town Supervisor, Don Castellucci, who is retiring, it is the first time in over 30 years that a Democrat has been seated on the Town Council.

The same holds true for the legislative race. According to the legislative chair, Martha Sauerbrey, whose seat was up for election as she will retire at the end of the year, there hasn’t been a Democrat seated in over 20 years on the County Legislature.

In a press release from Tioga County’s Democratic Committee, Irena Raia wrote, “After securing four victories in this week’s general election, including flipping the County Legislature seat previously held by veteran Republican Chairwoman Martha Sauerbrey and ousting Republican Craig Jochum from the Owego Town Council, local Democrats have achieved what some said was unattainable: ending decades of single-party rule in a ruby-red district.”

Other contests in Tioga County on Tuesday included a change of seats in Nichols, N.Y. where Barbara Cushman (Common Ground of Nichols), earned 64% of the vote in her contest with the incumbent, Esther Woods, for Town Supervisor.

In the town of Newark Valley, a write-in candidate earned the majority of the votes for town supervisor by a slim margin. According to the Department of Elections, they can only see the vote number and, at the time of this report, stated that they will have the name confirmed in a few days. Currently, Kathleen Grant, a Democrat, has 279 votes; write-ins total 284 and will be tallied, with the contest winner revealed in the coming days.

In the Town of Berkshire, George A. Hoffmier, Jr. grabbed the Superintendent of Highway votes, defeating William Spoonhower, who ran on a Republican Party and Working Man’s Party ticket.

In Tioga, Nicholas Schoonover, a Republican, defeated Kerry Root, a Democrat, to maintain his seat on the Town Council in an unexpired two-year term.

The Board of Elections noted that a total of 6,812 votes were cast in Tioga County out of the 35,345 registered voters, representing a 19% turnout this year. The numbers include votes rendered during early voting as well.

You can view the full unofficial election results at https://tiogacountyny.com/media/xarnzhp5/ge25-unofficial-report_final_2.pdf.