BUFFALO, N.Y. — The balance of power in the Erie County Legislature was up for grabs Tuesday, and Democrats kept control.
As of late Tuesday night, Democrats were projected to win 7 of the 11 seats. Democrats had held a 7-4 advantage over Republicans going into Election Day.
In the 5th District -- which covers Amherst -- Democrat Tom Loughran did not seek re-election. That set up a race between attorney Jeanne Vinal, a Democrat, and Republican Amherst Town Board member Shelly Schratz. Vinal ended up winning by 10 percentage points.
The other open seat was in the 9th District, which includes Hamburg, Lackawanna and South Buffalo. Legislator Lynne Dixon, who caucused with Republicans, was the incumbent but vacated her seat to run for county executive. That seat flipped to Democrat control with John Gilmour beating Ryan Stang by more than 18 points, or almost 4,000 votes.
Another seat flipped in the other direction. Republican Frank Todaro narrowly beat incumbent John Bruso in the 8th District, which includes Alden, Lancaster and part of Cheektowaga.
The final race that was considered competitive heading into Election Day was in the 4th District. Incumbent Democrat Kevin Hardwick -- who was previously a Republican -- ended up easily beating his challenger Jacob McMahon.
Hardwick was originally elected as a Republican but recently changed parties. He's being challenged in the 4th District by 23-year-old Republican Jacob McMahon. The 4th District includes Grand Island, the City of Tonawanda and the Town of Tonawanda.
In races that were expected to be blowout wins for Democrats, Incumbents Howard Johnson, Jr., April Baskin, Lisa Chimera and Timothy Meyers easily won the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 7th Districts, respectively.
Republicans had some easy wins as well. Ed Rath beat his challenger by almost 30 points in the 6th District, Joe Lorigo nearly doubled the Democrat in his race in the 10th District and John Mills won re-election with 68% of the vote in the 11th District.
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