TOMPKINS COUNTY, N.Y. –– Leslie Danks Burke, the Democratic challenger to represent the 58th district in New York’s State Senate conceded via Twitter today to incumbent Republican Tom O’Mara.
The 58th Senate District covers all of Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben and Yates counties, and a portion of Tompkins County (the city and town of Ithaca and the towns of Enfield, Newfield, and Ulysses).
“Out of respect for the voters and the principles on which our democratic republic is founded, we accept this outcome for the next two years,” Danks Burke wrote in her statement.
While we must still ensure that every vote is counted and despite making significant gains on paper ballots, based on the numbers we have seen so far is it clear that we will not see the outcome we hoped for. pic.twitter.com/pLjVb4zj93
— Leslie Danks Burke (@LDanksBurke) November 18, 2020
O’Mara has served in the State Senate since being elected in 2010; before that, he was the State Assembly representative for Chemung and Schuyler Counties and a portion of Tioga County. He has now been reelected six times to the position.
This is the second that Danks Burke, a lawyer by trade, has run unsuccessfully to unseat O’Mara. In 2016, she lost by about nine percentage points in the final vote.
As the results currently stand without a small portion of write-in votes returned, O’Mara has defeated Danks Burke by more than 16,000 votes.
The margin of victory was large in most of the district with Chemung County having 62 percent of their votes come in for O’Mara, Schuyler County with 62 percent, Steuben County with 68 percent and Yates County with 65 percent. However, in Tompkins County, Danks Burke had a crushing lead, boasting 77 percent of the votes.
In response to Danks Burke’s announcement Wednesday evening, Senator O’Mara said, “I am proud to have brought together an ever-growing, broad coalition of support for building stronger and safer communities throughout the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions, for protecting our way of life and the Upstate values we share, and for saying no to a future of one-party control of New York State government.”
Further, “I am honored by the overwhelming support this campaign generated in the 58th district.”