Peekskill GOP Says 'We Are Not Going Away' After Dems Win Another 2 Years of One-Party Rule

Editor's Note, Nov. 10: This article was written before 100 percent of the city's district's had been tallied. Click here for the final unofficial results from the County Board of Elections.

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Nov. 9, 2011

The Republican Party’s stronghold on the city of Peekskill for more than twenty years has been pushed further into the past with the democrats’ win of another two-years in City Hall. But local GOP say they will "remain vigilant" to maintain their presence.

Last night, Mayor Mary Foster was unofficially elected to her third two-year term as the city’s mayor. Her running mates, Don Bennett, Kathie Talbot and Darren Rigger, running for city council, were elected to their four-year terms.

In 2007, when Foster beat Bill Schmidt with 52 percent of the votes, she became the first democrat elected as mayor of Peekskill in more than thirty years. Two years later, Foster was re-elected and Marybeth McGowan won her current seat on the city council, giving the democrats one-party rule over the city. That one-party rule has now been re-elected to power by voters for the next two years, when McGowan and councilman Andrew Torres, as well as the mayor, will be up for re-election.

Last night, while the democrats popped open champagne and dug into a feast at their campaign headquarters, their Republican challengers and their supporters shed tears and offered each other consolation hugs at the dimly lit Quiet Man Pub around the corner, where they were gathered for the results.

Republican challengers Tony Washington, who ran for mayor and Steve Woods, Barbara Kerasiotes and Joe Brady, who ran for city council, were disappointed by the results, but say their party will not back down.

“There should not be a misperception that the Republican Party is dead,” Washington said before heading home from the Quiet Man.

“They should be congratulated on a good campaign that voters obviously responded to,” the defeated candidate offered. “But at the end of the day they have difficult decisions to make and have to keep the best interest of citizens in mind. Where we are supportive we will be openly supportive, but where we think they are wrong we will be ready to hold them accountable.”

Washington was disappointed by his loss, but said he felt comfortable with the campaign he and his “Tony’s team” ran.

“We are only responsible for the effort, not for the outcome,” Washington said.

Peekskill Republican City Committee Chair Vincent Vesce and former Republican Mayor of Peekskill shared Washington’s sentiment about his political party.

“I can tell you we are not going away. We have a responsibility as a party to remain vigilant,” Vesce said, after first congratulating the democrats on a good campaign.

 “I was not surprised by the fact they won- as the Republican Party we are fighting an uphill battle looking at the registration,” said Vesce.

Of Peekskill’s 10,845 Registered voters, 5,478 are democrats and 2,146 are registered Republicans. There are 2,447 voters who are not registered to any party, and 542 registered Independence voters. (Numbers are from July 2011). With 86 percent of the city reporting, only 2,623 people voted in the mayoral election this year. That is just over ten percent of the city’s population.

 “But I would be less than truthful if I did not tell you I am surprised by the size of the win,” Vesce said. With 86 percent of the city’s districts reporting, Foster swept Washington with 59 percent of those votes, according to Westchester County reports. The GOP’s city council candidates lost to the democrats by about three to five percentage points each. Patch will provide final results as soon as they become available from the Westchester County Board of Elections.

"The mayor's win is stronger than her win two years ago, which was 52 percent," Vesce said.

Despite the increase support in democratic candidates, Vesce said that the Peekskil GOP will maintain a significant presence in city politics.

“If we see something we don’t think is good for the city we will bring that up,” Vesce said. "I think that is what democracy is.”

With the stresses and time demands of the campaign over, Vesce, who serves as a board president of the Paramount Center for the Arts, said he will turn his energy to that endeavour. Washington said he is going to focus on his job, his wife, and cut his grass, which was neglected, along with other mundane duties, during his campaign.

"I have made a lot of sacrafices for this campaign," Washington said, explaining that now that it is over he will go back to his normal life.

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Editor's Note: The headline was changed to reflect Vesce's correct quote that "the Republican Party is not going away."

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