OK, we’ve got some votes in the GOP primary for New York’s 2nd District trickling in. With 30 percent of the expected vote reporting, incumbent Garbarino is in the lead with 58 percent of the vote, with Cornicelli following at 33 percent. There is also a third candidate in this race, former NYPD detective Mike Rakebrandt, though he currently is trailing with 8 percent of the vote. Because I spend so much time looking at election denialism in the primaries, I can’t help but think about how this exemplifies the differences between Republicans in New York and elsewhere. Garbarino voted to certify the 2020 election and has not endorsed Trump’s claims that the election was stolen, while Cornicelli has been open about saying he thinks the election was rigged. So far, it seems that Republicans on Long Island aren’t too peeved that Garbarino isn’t toeing the election denial line. And notably, there were fewer out-and-out election deniers running in primaries in New York tonight. More often, candidates didn’t have a stated position that we could find one way or the other. While claiming the 2020 election was stolen can feel like a requirement for Republicans in many races, we’ve found it’s not a guaranteed path to victory.
