[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s of press time, the Westchester County Democratic Party had yet to pick its nominee for county executive. But the feeling in the air on Wednesday night signaled the likelihood of September primary.
The convention, which was held at the Westchester County Center on May 10, started off with a rash of excitement and a few hundred district leaders from throughout the county on hand to select a slew of candidates for the November elections, but soon trailed into Thursday morning before party leaders opted to postpone final vote tallying. The key nomination was which Democrat, county Legislator Ken Jenkins, of Yonkers, or state Sen. George Latimer, of Rye, would run against County Executive Rob Astorino, a Republican, in the general election.
The decision on the county executive nominee was expected to be announced on Friday, May 12, after press time, according to Reginald Lafayette, the county Democratic Party chairman.
The convention at the County Center began at 7 p.m. But district leaders were engaged in a heated battle to nominate a candidate for family court justice from early in the evening until after midnight, delaying their decision on whether Jenkins or Latimer would get the party’s official backing.
Although Democrats will wait until Friday, after press time, to decide who will receive the nomination, Wednesday evening’s atmosphere seemed to foreshadow a primary election in September as Latimer seemed to be the odds-on favorite heading into the convention.
The candidates took to the stage at about 11 p.m. Latimer, 63, received a robust and sustained welcome from his supporters, whom he tried to rally with his speech.
“There is one single thing that unites all the Democrats in this room,” he said. “We are ready for change––dramatic, real change.”
Latimer, who announced his candidacy in April, stressed the importance of a united party, comparing Democratic efforts in Republican strongholds to those in Democrat-heavy communities.
“If you want to win this county, you’ve got to merge those two Westchesters,” he said. “You’ve got to run in Eastchester and you’ve got to run in Mount Vernon.”
Jenkins, 55, also tried to engender Democratic voters, who outnumber Republicans by more than 2-to-1 in Westchester County, despite having handed the election to Astorino in 2009 and 2013.
But Jenkins, who was the first candidate to announce his candidacy for county executive last August, looked beyond the convention in his speech, setting his sights on what seems like a primary election which would be open to all registered Democratic voters instead of only party leaders.
“The voters are the party,” Jenkins said. “So in a race like this, we, as party insiders, must recognize the need for their involvement. That’s how we pick the strongest candidate to beat Rob Astorino.”
Jenkins has maintained throughout his early campaign that he would not step down if he did not receive the party’s nomination. He had bowed out of the race for county executive after losing the party’s nomination to New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson in 2013; Bramson was handily defeated by Astorino that year.
Latimer, meanwhile, has stated that he plans to honor the intentions of the Democratic committee, adding that if he does not receive the nomination, he will throw his full support and effort behind Jenkins.
Both candidates ultimately took aim at Astorino, who has held the county’s top elected position since 2010. Jenkins highlighted his role in lowering taxes while he was chairman of the Board of Legislators, combating Astorino’s reputation for not raising taxes during his tenure.
Meanwhile, Latimer focused on his own reputation for winning elections in majority Republican districts, and doing so while financially short-handed, as he would be against Astorino, who had amassed more than $2.5 million in his campaign financing by January.
More than 200 party leaders attended the convention, but began trailing out of the county center by midnight, before Reginald Lafayette, the county Democratic chairman, adjourned the session without a county executive nomination at 12:45 a.m.
