ALBANY COUNTY — Democratic State Senator Neil D. Breslin was re-elected to the newly redrawn Senate 46th District, which he will take over from Democrat Michelle Hinchey, who was elected as its representative in 2020 and has won re-election this year in the 41st Senate District, according to unofficial results Tuesday night from the state Board of Elections. 

Breslin, who currently represents the 44th Senate District, was challenged on the Republican and Conservative lines by Richard M. Amedure, a former state trooper who made his first attempt at office in 2020, running against Hinchey, who was also running for public office for the first time. 

Amedure did far better against Hinchey than he did against Breslin, according to Election Night figures, which received results from all districts around 11 p.m.. He’s down by 12,000 votes against Breslin, or around 10 percent, while he had only trailed Hinchey by just over 2,500 votes, or around 2 percent. 

Election districts out of Albany County are where Breslin secured his lead, receiving roughly 64 percent of the vote to Amedure’s 34 percent. In the election districts in Montgomery and Schenectady counties, Amedure received the most votes — 66 percent to Breslin’s 30 percent in Montgomery, and 55 percent to Breslin’s 42 percent in Schenectady.

Each candidate ran on a platform typical for their parties. Breslin favors the state’s environmental bond act, wants to protect the current abortion rights, and supports gun control. Amedure, meanwhile, was moderately critical of the state’s abortion laws but acknowledged that changing them would be an uphill battle, while he was firmly pro-gun, and had concerns about the way Democrats were approaching climate solutions. He was particularly concerned about bail reform and crime rates.

Breslin, who’s been in office for 26 years, took in $301,760.96 in campaign contributions as of mid-October, while Amedure, who only announced his campaign this summer, took in $31,989.20. 

On his Facebook page Wednesday night, Amedure said he was “humbled” by the “overwhelming support” he received during his campaign, while acknowledging Breslin’s victory. 

“I encourage Senator Breslin to do the right thing for the people of the 46th Senate district,” Amedure wrote. “I do hope he is able to work with his colleagues on both sides of the aisle to put New York State on the right track.”

Also on Wednesday, Breslin expressed to The Enterprise his pleasure with the outcome and said he would be taking time to get to know his constituents in his new district. 

He said that meeting people while campaigning over the course of a few months, “it’s not as qualitative as you’d like … My intention is to get to each and every governmental entity and the people who run them as quickly as I can — going to them, seeing what their needs are, seeing how they have been taken care of in the past, and putting it all together.”