New York Republicans were unable to hold onto the momentum of their midterm wins, dropping two seats in the state’s congressional delegation while gaining one.
The 27 seats contested this year for the House of Representatives had been held by 20 Democrats and 7 Republicans. The delegation will now be made up of 21 Democrats and six Republicans.
Both national political parties had been looking to the New York races as they fought to see which party would have control in the House of Representatives, and millions of dollars had flowed into the state from super political action committees and other outside groups funding an avalanche of negative ads. Republicans had taken five seats away from Democrats in the 2010 elections.
Overall, Republicans maintained control in the House on Tuesday.
In New York, Democrat Dan Maffei was declared the winner over Republican incumbent Ann Marie Buerkle for the district near Syracuse. Buerkle had beaten him for the seat in 2010 by 648 votes.
Republican Chris Collins, the former Erie County executive, defeated incumbent Democrat Kathy Hochul, who won the Buffalo-area seat last year.
Former Bill Clinton aide Sean Patrick Maloney beat Republican incumbent Nan Hayworth in the lower Hudson Valley to become New York’s first openly gay member of Congress.
In other races, Republican Rep. Michael Grimm was declared the winner over Democratic challenger Mark Murphy for the district that covers Staten Island. In Queens, Democratic candidate Grace Meng defeated Republican Dan Halloran. She becomes the first Asian-American member of Congress from New York.
In another race that was a rematch of 2010, five-term incumbent Democratic Rep. Timothy Bishop defeated Republican businessman Randy Altschuler on eastern Long Island. Altschuler came within 593 votes of defeating Bishop two years ago.
In eastern New York, Republican freshman Rep. Chris Gibson beat back a challenge from Democrat Julian Schreibman. In northern New York, Democratic Rep. Bill Owens once again defended his seat against Republican businessman Matt Doheny. Doheny narrowly lost to Owens in 2010 when a third-party candidate took some votes.
Money for ads had poured into the state from business interests, unions, PACs and other groups. The Sunlight Foundation, which calls for more government transparency, says total outside spending had gone above $18 million in the state.
New York lost two of its current 29 seats in the House — one Democratic and one Republican — to redistricting.
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Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
