BUFFALO, N.Y. — When it comes to state legislative races, the odds of unseating an incumbent are long.
But Frank Smierciak decided to test those odds by running for the New York State Assembly in the 143rd District, which encompasses Lancaster and Cheektowaga.
By the time smoke cleared on election night, and the votes cast at the polls that day along with those lodged through early voting were counted, Smierciak, a Republican, found himself leading the incumbent democrat Monica Wallace by 2,331 votes.
Some may have found that surprising, but not Smierciak.
"You know what? We put in the work, so no, it doesn't surprise me," Smierciak told WGRZ-TV.
Wallace did not concede the race, nor might she be expected to at this point.
After all, 11,426 ballots cast by mail that won't be counted until November 17 are currently in the custody of the Erie County Board of Elections.
Additionally, there are another 1,418 that had been requested, which may arrive and be added to the count, if they were postmarked by November 3.
Will his lead hold?
Of the mailed ballots that have arrived thus far, elections officials have confirmed to 2 On Your Side that 6,518 came from registered Democrats, 2,110 from registered Republicans, and 2,798 from voters not registered with either party.
Those numbers, on the surface, at least, might appear to bode well for Wallace in terms of reducing Smierciak's lead, if not overtaking it entirely.
He's not worried.
"I know I have family members that have been Democrats for decades, and they vote straight red every election. This is a district with conservative values, and that's what they want to see in their representative, and I know I embody those conservative values 100 percent," Smierciak said.
In terms of the counting of the mailed ballots that still looms, he remarked, "lets see them counted because all the votes are important. Every last one of them."
Meanwhile, the Board of Elections in Erie County updated the total number of mailed ballots it has received to 83,204 at the close of business on Wednesday.
*Numbers within the text of this story reflect updated totals that were released after the report seen on Channel 2 News First at 5.
