ALBANY COUNTY — Assemblyman Christopher Tague, a Republican, has effectively won his bid for re-election to the 102nd Assembly District, according to updated election results, which show him ahead of Democrat Betsy Kraat in nearly every county the district comprises, Ulster County being the outlier.

The updated 102nd Assembly District results show Kraat with an additional 6,124 mail-in votes from all counties, compared to 4,636 new votes for Tague, bringing the new totals to 24,053 for Kraat and 42,101 votes for Tague — an approximate 35-65 split of votes cast for either candidate, compared to a 32-68 split in the Nov. 9 results. 

The 102nd Assembly District is made up of all of Greene and Schoharie counties, and parts of Albany, Columbia, Delaware, Otsego, and Ulster counties. It contains 88,434 active registered voters.

District 102, as of Feb. 21, has 31,476 enrolled Republicans, 26,888 enrolled Democrats, and 23,703 registered voters who are not enrolled in a party. Among small parties, the Independence Party leads with 5,862 members followed by 2,644 Conservatives, and fewer than 1,000 registered voters enrolled in other parties.

The updated election results include absentee ballots, which were allowed to arrive at local boards of elections as late as Nov. 10, one week after the Nov. 3 election. Tague had a strong lead in the unofficial results — 37,465 votes to Kraat’s 17,929 — which were a sum of the early and day-of votes, and he declared victory in a press release issued on Nov. 4.

That day, Kraat posted a statement on her campaign’s social media page that acknowledged her disappointing position in the race without explicitly conceding the election. Her campaign manager, Shannon Lynch, told The Enterprise that the campaign was “confident that there will be a significant showing for Betsy in the absentee votes that have yet to be counted” and that the campaign would wait for those results before conceding. 

The Kraat campaign was more or less correct in thinking that the absentee results would boost Kraat’s numbers, as Democrats nationwide were far more likely than Republicans to vote by mail in light of the coronavirus pandemic. New York State had expanded its absentee-ballot requirements to include concern about contracting the virus, allowing for the first time every registered voter the opportunity to claim an absentee ballot. 

But, while Kraat was able to reduce Tague’s margin of victory slightly, she didn’t benefit as greatly from the ongoing count as other Democrats in the state, like Michelle Hinchey, of the 46th Senate District, who was able to declare victory on Nov. 20, after her Republican-backed opponent, Richard Amedure, had appeared the victor based on the unofficial Nov. 9 results, which showed him ahead by approximately 6,000 votes.

Tague beat Kraat:

— 4,181 votes to 2,331 in Albany County

— 1,382 votes to 970 in Columbia County

— 3,508 votes to 2,292 Delaware County;

— 15,343 votes to 8,362 in Greene County;

— 1,547 votes to 743 in Otsego County; and

— 11,071 votes to 4,169 in Schoharie County.

Kraat beat Tague 5,186 votes to 5,069 in Ulster County.

Kraat had run against Tague, whom she called a “Trump delegate” in an interview with The Enterprise ahead of the election, with a focus on state-wide measures, including higher taxes on the wealthy and single-payer health insurance program.

Tague — who had the benefit of campaigning on a record that reaches back to 2018, when he first took office — took a more regional approach, stating that he’d fight against legislation that benefits New York City to the detriment of upstate New York.

Tague outraised Kraat by $66,535.81, bringing in a total of $83,852.14 from 401 contributors, with the average contribution per donor at $209. Kraat raised $17,316.33 through 255 contributors, averaging $68 per donor.

“It’s definitely disappointing to lose to someone like Chris Tague,” Kraat told The Enterprise in an email this week, “who has shown no leadership and has accomplished very little in his time in office, and chooses to ignore his Democratic constituents (we never receive his mailers). It’s disheartening because it’s not like he does much besides yell about [Governor Andrew] Cuomo and give out plaques. He gets paid $120k to do that.”

Kraat said she “couldn’t think of anything” she would do differently if she were to run again, and said the biggest obstacles this cycle were “campaigning in a pandemic and not having a network of wealthy friends, and I couldn’t do anything about those things.”

Kraat said that she’s not planning another run “at this moment,” instead focusing on redrawing the district, the current iteration of which, she said, gives Republicans an enrollment advantage that’s “insurmountable.”

She said that a formal concession isn’t necessary.

When asked for a comment on Kraat’s assertions, Tague said, “I don't have a comment for such a ridiculous statement. The voters and I did our talking on election night four weeks ago, apparently she didn’t get the memo just like she didn’t get my mailings.”

His victory statement on Nov. 4 read, “When we get back to Albany, I will continue advocating for expanded broadband access to our rural upstate populations, a repeal of the dangerous bail reform law, protections for our farmers and local businesses and increased accountability in government.”