In a tight City Council race, when the polls closed on Election Night, Emily Hurd, who ran on the Democratic ticket, came out on top with 1,572 votes; incumbent Republican Councilman Richard Mecca, with 1,408 votes, was assured another term; and the winner of the third open seat was undecided.
By Robin Jovanovich and Tom McDermott
In a tight City Council race, when the polls closed on Election Night, Emily Hurd, who ran on the Democratic ticket, came out on top with 1,572 votes; incumbent Republican Councilman Richard Mecca, with 1,408 votes, was assured another term; and the winner of the third open seat was undecided.
Three voting machines in Rye’s 14 districts broke down and there were still 116 absentee ballots to be counted.
At press time, Democrat Danielle Tagger-Epstein, with 1,395 votes, had a slight edge over her running mate Jeff Taylor, who had 1,366 votes. Jim Culyer, who ran on the Republican ticket, was close behind with 1,347 votes. His running mate, Leon Sculti, garnered 1,276 votes.
The difference in percentage between the number of votes each of the six Council candidates received was small. Hurd won 19%, Mecca and Tagger-Epstein 17%, Taylor and Culyer each received 16%, and Sculti 15%.
As expected, in a non-presidential election year, voter turnout was low, despite the efforts of hard-working supporters on both sides.
That hard work was in evidence at both slates’ election parties on Tuesday. Mayor Joe Slack, at the Rye GOP gathering at Ruby’s Oyster Bar, was one of the many supporters checking the unofficial tallies. At the Rye Democrats’ party around the corner at Morgans Fish House, Assemblyman Steve Otis, State Senator George Latimer, and former Mayor Doug French were among those in the back room.
Councilman Mecca thanked everyone on the GOP team for months of hard work. With an official tally still days away, he did not give an acceptance speech that night. Mr. Sculti’s wife, sister, and eldest son were at his side. In between news updates, Mr. Culyer was trying to call his wife, who was babysitting for their grandchildren in Virginia.
Ms. Hurd, whose husband MacKenzie was at her side and whose mother flew in for the occasion, spoke for her entire team when she thanked a long list of volunteers, especially Helen Gates, Meg Cameron, Vicki Farrington, and Bill Lawyer. Ms. Tagger-Epstein, whose husband and two daughters were close by, said that whatever the final result, “We will not go silently into that good night.” Mr. Taylor added, “Thank you for giving us this opportunity. We were like-minded on the key issues.”
