This article was updated at 10:15 p.m. to include comments from George Latimer.
George Latimer is headed to Congress.
Rye’s Latimer, the Westchester County executive, trounced Republican Dr. Miriam Levitt Flisser in the 16th Congressional District, concluding a lengthy political season that will land the longtime local political leader a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Latimer’s congressional race was quickly called by the Associated Press at 9:26 p.m. Tuesday night with the 70-year-old Democrat cruising to 89.9 percent of the total vote. Levitt Flisser had garnered just 10.1 percent.
“It’s been a long campaign with an early primary. I had to announce in December or January, it’s been a real marathon,” Latimer told The Record at his election night party at Coliseum White Plains. “I’m relieved that this is the end of the line.”
For Latimer the seat was all-but won in June when he knocked off progressive incumbent Rep. Jamaal Bowman in a Democratic primary in the heavily blue district.
That bitter battle was defined by the candidates’ polarized views on Israel – in the aftermath of Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023 – and the record spending for a Democratic House primary. More than $31 million was raised by the candidates and political action committees.
Unlike that high-profile primary, the general election race between Latimer and Flisser was much less contentious as evidenced by the candidates one public debate, a very polite October candidate forum.
Flisser also lost a bid for Congress in 2022 when she was crushed by Bowman.
With his transition to Washington, D.C., Latimer has now held a long list of political posts during his 37-year career — having been elected to the Rye City Council, county Board of Legislators, state Assembly, state Senate, and county executive.
His priorities will be setting up district operations in White Plains and in Co-op City. “That’s the immediate goal,” he said.
The incoming congressman hopes to serve on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee so he can bring funding to the district for flooding, he told The Record.
“But I’ll be a 71-year-old freshman, so we’ll see what happens,” he added.
He is viewed nationally as a centrist, but says he considers himself a progressive. He emphasized that he plans to work hard both for residents of Westchester, where he is popular, and his new Bronx constituents living in a much smaller section of the district — 83 percent of whom voted for Bowman in June.
The last Rye resident to represent the city’s congressional district was Caroline O’Day who served in Washington from 1935 to 1943. Prior to O’Day, Rye native Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright served five terms in Congress beginning in 1922.
Latimer said so much of government has been “impersonal” and people often feel like they “don’t have a voice.”
“I want to thank the people of Rye who have been so good to me for so long. I’m still going to worship in the community [and] get my haircut on Purchase Street,” he said. “Your congressman is also your neighbor and that will bring it closer to people. They can say, ‘Hey George, I don’t like what’s going on with this’ and I will hear them.”
Before taking office Latimer will need to resign as county executive.
Within 90 days of his resignation, the county Board of Legislators must schedule a special election for his unexpired term. Deputy County Executive Ken Jenkins, a Democrat who lost to Latimer in a 2017 primary, would be considered a prohibitive favorite in a special election contest. Latimer’s term expires on Dec. 31, 2025.
If elected, Jenkins also would become the first Black county executive in Westchester history.