Update Shows Donnelly, Daraio, Quezada, Tawil Won, Dems Sweep In Ossining

by Tien-Shun Lee

The Daily Ossining

Ossining's New Trustees Manuel Quezada and Robert Daraio

OSSINING, N.Y. – Sue Donnelly won the town supervisor race, Robert Daraio and Manuel Quezada won the village trustees race and John Fried and Mike Tawil won the town justices race, updated tallies from the county Board of Elections show.

Sue Donnelly and Catherine Borgia

According to the updated Board of Elections website, Donnelly, a Democrat, got 2,682 out of 5,162, or 52 percent of votes, while Republican opponent Peter Tripodi IV got 2,480, or 48 percent of votes for town supervisor.

Tripodi said he was still waiting for more accurate numbers to come in before he makes any comment on winning or losing. 

"Those are the numbers that were called out by the people at the polling places. The Ossining clerk's numbers are different and more accurate," said Tripodi. "I'm going to wait for everything to come in before I say anything." 

Tripodi said that Town Clerk Mary Ann Roberts' numbers showed Donnelly got 170 more votes than him and there were 185 absentee ballots that haven't been counted yet.

In the race for two village trustee seats, Democrat Robert Daraio got 1,525 out of 5,507, or 28 percent of votes, and running mate Manuel Quezada got 1,495, or 27 percent of votes, according to the county Board of Elections. 

Republican opponent Robert Fritsche got 1,243, or 23 percent of votes and Republican Robert Terilli got 1,244, or 23 percent of votes. 

Newly Elected Ossining trustee Manuel Quezada

Quezada is the first Ecuadorean ever to hold an elected office in Westchester and he said he is excited about winning. 

"I'm looking forward to move forward to make a better community for everybody," he said. "One of the things I'm going to do is go to meetings, the majority of them in which the budget will be discussed, and try to learn and understand the financial situation of the village of Ossining. I'm going to take it step by step at first." 

Newly Elected Judge Mike Tawil

In the race between three candidates for two town justice seats, the county Board of Elections website shows that incumbent John Fried got 4,643 out of 9,721, or 48 percent of votes, while Mike Tawil got 2,582, or 27 percent of votes, and John Mangialardi got 2,496, or 26 percent of votes. 

"I'm cautiously optimistic that the numbers will remain in my favor," said Tawil, who was endorsed by the Democrats. "I want to thank everyone who came out for me in the elections. It was pretty tough with only one line, but I think I pulled it off." 

Broadcast Union News Note: In Westchester's 9th District, Catherine Borgia (D), Ossining Town Supervisor won the County Legislator seat with 55% of the vote over former Croton Trustee Sue Konig who received 45%.

Eric Blaha, Geoff Harter, Bob Daraio, and Manuel Quezada on election night

In the election for Ossining Town Council, 20 year incumbent Geoff Harter (D) with 28% and newcomer  Eric Blaha (D) with 27% won over their Republican challengers  Kim Izzarelli(R) and Steve Dewey, who each garnered 23% of votes in the race for the two Town Council spots.