Republican Claudia Tenney Wins NY-22; Final Undecided House Race from November

It took over three months but there's finally a winner in the November 3 congressional race in NY-22.  Republican Claudia Tenney has won by 109 votes out of nearly 320,000 cast over incumbent Democrat Anthony Brindisi. 

After an extended review, a judge ruled Friday that Tenney had won the race. New York certified the election results at noon Monday, and Brindisi conceded shortly thereafter, saying he would drop any further legal appeals.

I really appreciate Anthony's call today and thank him for his service. He graciously offered to help ensure a smooth transition and I look forward to working with him over the coming days to complete that process on behalf of everyone in NY22. https://t.co/3XEDKZh3TJ

— Claudia Tenney (@claudiatenney) February 8, 2021

Tenney will return to the seat she won by 5 points in the 2016 election. She lost her reelection bid to Brindisi by about 2 points in 2018. 

In the end, Democrats won 222 seats in November's election while Republicans took 213. While Democrats maintained control, their margin was significantly reduced.  The GOP had a net gain of 12 seats, including one in MI-3, which was vacated by Libertarian Justin Amash.

Currently, the House sits at  221 Democrats and 210 Republicans. There are four vacancies. In addition to NY-22, where Tenney should be seated in the near future:

• LA-2 Democrat Cedric Richmond resigned last month to join the Biden administration. 
• LA-5 Republican Luke Letlow died of Covid-19 on December 29, less than a week before he would have been sworn in
• TX-6 Republican Ron Wright died Sunday after contracting Covid-19.  He is the first sitting member of Congress to die from the virus

There will be all-party primaries for the two Louisiana seats on March 20. If no candidate gets a majority of the vote in a particular race, a top-two runoff will be April 24. The incumbent party is heavily favored in both cases.

No date has been set for a special election in the TX-6. This largely suburban district includes some of the area between Forth Worth and Dallas and includes Ellis and Navarro counties to the south of Dallas. Wright won a 2nd term in November by about 9 points.

Two other Democratic-held seats are likely to be vacated in the near future. Deb Haaland (NM-1) and Marcia Fudge (OH-11) have been nominated for Cabinet positions and are awaiting Senate confirmation.