Brabenec Cruises to Reelection in New York’s 98th Assembly District

A lawn sign supporting Karl Branenec for New York State Assembly in Port Jervis, N.Y. on Oct. 21, 2022. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

Four-term New York Republican State Assemblyman Karl Brabenec won his reelection bid in the 98th district by a 30 percent margin.

The newly drawn district encompasses portions of both Rockland and Orange County, including Deerpark, Mount Hope, Minisink, Warwick, and Goshen.

Brabenec got 65 percent, or 20,279 votes, compared to 11,092 votes secured by his Democrat challenger Bruce Levine, according to the unofficial results published by the Orange County Board of Elections.

“I am extremely grateful to all the voters that helped me to achieve such a huge victory,” Brabenec told The Epoch Times. “I will continue to fight for all the residents of my district to make New York a better place to live for all.”

Voters reelected Assemblyman Karl Brabenec on Nov. 8. (Courtesy of Karl Brabenec)

Levine told The Epoch Times that he had run not to win but to add new ideas to the public policy debate.

“Even when you cannot win, you are still a voice for your party,” he said. “It is just important for Democracy to have choices and to have different views. The public deserves [it.]”

In a previous interview with The Epoch Times, Brabenec said he would do his best as deputy minority whip to lobby Democrats to do away with harmful laws such as the bail reform.

“We warned the majority party of the natural consequences of adopting the legislation, and you can see that a lot of them are happening now,” he said. “The entire reform needs to be repealed.”

Brabenec said in the previous interview that it had been hard for Republicans to push for legislative agendas since the Democrat Party had full control of the state legislature and governorship in 2019.

He had hoped for Lee Zeldin, the Republican candidate for New York Governor, to win against incumbent Kathy Hochul—which he said was the best chance for Republicans to restore some balance in the state government, according to the previous interview.

As of late afternoon on Nov. 9, Gov. Hochul had a lead of 5 percent against Zeldin, with 94 percent of districts reported, according to the unofficial results by the New York State Board of Elections.

Aileen Gunther, a Democrat, was returned with a 20 percent margin in New York's 100th assembly district. (Courtesy of Aileen Gunther)

In the nearby 100th assembly district, nine-term Democrat Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther won reelection by a 20 percent margin against Republican challenger Lisa LaBue.

The district encompasses most of Sullivan County as well as portions of Orange County, including Middletown and the Wallkill.

Gunther got 8,009 votes, compared to 5,248 votes by LaBue, according to the unofficial results published by the Orange County Board of Elections.

“I want to thank the constituents of Orange and Sullivan Counties for giving me another opportunity to serve them,” Gunther told The Epoch Times.

“I look forward to continuing to bring back our taxpayer money for important projects here at home and passing legislation to help improve the lives of the people of the state of New York.”