Republican Claudia Tenney Re-Takes Lead Over House Rep. Anthony Brindisi in NY 22nd District Election

We reported last week that Democratic House Rep. Anthony Brindisi having taken a slim lead over challenger Claudia Tenney (R) in New York’s 22nd district race.

It was reported today that Tenney has retaken the lead by about 30 votes, according to her campaign spokesman Sean Kennedy and that figure was also confirmed by an attorney familiar with the count.

More twists and turns are expected and even if Tenney maintains her slight edge into next week, State Supreme Court Judge Scott DelConte will still have to rule on several thousand affidavit and absentee ballots that candidates’ attorneys want to count or to be stricken from the total.

That review begins in a virtual courtroom on Jan. 4 after Judge DelConte closed the courtroom on Dec. 23 with the next day being Christmas Eve and then Christmas on Friday.

Proceedings are delayed further because the week after Christmas is typically known as “recess week,” according to Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration, and it’s a long-standing tradition to take the week off.

Having the week off is written into many union contracts, he said, and court administrators encourage non-union employees to take the week off for that reason, although attorneys are expected to file legal briefs making their arguments by New Year’s Eve.

Oneida County elections officials, however, were able to continue reviewing after having spent last week and part of this week reviewing about 1,800 affidavit ballots that were not included as part of the unofficial election total.