Terry Gipson upsets long-time incumbent Stephen Saland

With his apparent win, Gipson seems to have already put it all behind him.

“There are lots of things that I want to get done that voters in my district want to get done that [Cuomo] clearly supports, and [he] will clearly be a key player in getting those things done,” Gipson told the Observer. “I’m looking forward to working with him.”

Saland narrowly avoided losing the Republican primary in September to conservative candidate Neil DiCarlo who hammered him on his vote to support same-sex marriage and lack of fiscal restraint. When DiCarlo lost the Republican line, he remained on the ballot as the Conservative candidate providing an outlet for conservative voters dissatisfied with Saland’s position.

“I thought it was actually quite exciting to have three people in the race. I thought it was really democracy at its best,” Gipson told the Observer. “Every candidate was very passionate about their position and felt like they were running on an agenda that was right for their constituents. Everyone tried to make their case, and the voters made their decision based on that.”

In the end, DiCarlo received 14.3 percent of the votes, but that was enough to provide Gipson a narrow 1.5 point lead on Election Night.

In a statement sent to the Observer, DiCarlo thanked his supporters.

“Your efforts inspired me and proved to the district that the traditional understanding of social and fiscal matters is dear to the hearts of the people,” he said.

The Saland campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

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