Prior to vote counting on Tuesday night, Onondaga County Democratic Committee Chairperson Mark English predicted the 24th Congressional District race would be decided that evening, with a victory by Rep. Dan Maffei (D-Syracuse).

“It’s going to be done tonight,” he said.

English was right about a set decision, but wrong about the victor.

Despite Maffei’s push to allow absentee and military ballots to be counted at a later date, Republican challenger John Katko defeated him by around 20 percent.

As of 10:25 p.m. Tuesday night, Katko was ahead of Maffei with 59 percent of the vote. By 10:30 p.m., Maffei took to the podium at the Oncenter Complex and said the race, if Katko’s winning trends continued, would not go in his favor. Maffei’s speech was met with outbursts of “We love you, Dan” from members of the audience, as he thanked his constituents.

“Representing you in Congress is the biggest privilege I’ve ever had,” he said. “Thank you for a wonderful ride.”

Maffei left the Oncenter after delivering his concession speech.

By the end of the night, with 99 percent of polls reporting, Maffei had garnered 40 percent, or 75,286 total votes, compared to Katko’s 60 percent, or 112,469 total votes.

Throughout the night, other candidates for state-elected positions had positive words for Maffei.

After being re-elected to the State Assembly, Bill Magnarelli (D-129th district) said he would miss Maffei’s representation and used humor to express positivity with regard to the Democrats’ other successes despite the loss.

“I thought Dan was an exceptional representative for this area,” he said. “We’ve done pretty well in the assembly though.”

After Maffei’s speech, some Democratic supporters turned to television screens to watch speeches from Republicans, including one from Katko, who celebrated a comeback win Tuesday night. In poll results released on Sept. 21, Maffei led by 8 percent.

A poll conducted by Siena College, Syracuse.com and The Post-Standard on Oct. 22 had Katko up by 10 points over Maffei, with the projection giving Katko 52 percent of the vote with 6 percent undecided.

Prior to the start of the election night festivities, English, the Onondaga County Democratic Committee Chairperson, said the Siena poll was inaccurate.

“You have to be careful with those things, they can impact the election,” he said.

Overall, this was Maffei’s third defeat in a midterm election, losing races in both 2006 and 2010. In total, the money spent between him and Katko was more than $6.4 million, including money from supporters and outside political groups, according to Syracuse.com.

Maffei, 46, received outside endorsements and visits from Vice President Joe Biden and former President Bill Clinton during his run for re-election.

Prior to Katko’s win, County Legislator Monica Williams alluded to the idea of working with him despite differences.

“Some of his ideals are not what I believe in,” she said. “If he was to win, I would definitely work with him.”

Despite the loss for Maffei, some expressed hope because of Maffei’s push for court approval to impound all ballots, which involves waiting to count absentee and military ballots at a later date. Lifelong Syracuse resident Jeannie Willis spoke about this idea.

“There’s still hope because the absentee ballots have not come in yet,” she said.

Willis also expressed discontent over Maffei’s defeat.

“I feel devastated,” she said. “He was in the lead. How could he just lose like that?”

Published on November 5, 2014 at 2:20 am

Contact Rob: rromano@syr.edu