Congressional candidate Patrick Halpin won't concede race to Garbarino

WASHINGTON — Former Democratic Suffolk County Executive Patrick Halpin is refusing to concede in his bid to unseat Rep. Andrew Garbarino, despite The Associated Press on Thursday affirming the GOP congressman won by fewer than 8,000 votes.

Dale Pabst, Halpin’s campaign manager, said in an interview that Halpin is not going to entertain conceding because there remain issues with ballots and other problems that could still take days to sort out.

"It’s going to be awhile to do that," Pabst said.

There was no comment Thursday from Garbarino’s campaign on Halpin's refusal to concede.

Newsday on election night called Garbarino (R-Bayport) the winner over Halpin, of Oak Beach, based on reporting from New York’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes parts of Suffolk and Nassau counties.

Garbarino had declared victory from the Suffolk GOP election party in Patchogue on Tuesday night, telling supporters the race "was closer than we would have liked."

In a statement Wednesday, the three-term congressman and chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security had said, "I’m honored to continue serving the people of Long Island in Congress."

The AP on Thursday reported Garbarino was ahead by fewer than 8,000 votes — 128,184 to 120,263, with 97% of the expected vote counted.

That equates to a margin of 51.6% to 48.4%.

Pabst, though, said there are unresolved ballot problems tied to new voting machines that were used in Tuesday’s election. He also said there were "an inordinate" number of so-called affidavit ballots at some sites, totals that don’t mesh with those reported by the state Board of Elections, and other concerns.

An affidavit ballot is cast if a voter's name isn’t found on the registered voter rolls or if they do not have a photo identification with them at the polls.

Officials at the Suffolk and Nassau boards of election did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The race, no matter what, ends up a lot closer than strategists from both parties and independent handicappers had predicted. And Halpin had received no help from House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries’ campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

The DCCC never listed the Halpin-Garbarino race on its "red-to-blue" list of districts it was telling donors and others that it was targeting or eyeing. However, the party on Tuesday did flip a big number of currently GOP-held districts across the country, in a sweep that will hand Democrats the House and Senate majority in January.

"Dems ran way ahead of expectations all over the place, and they even apparently won some races where there was no investment at all," said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball, a nonpartisan election newsletter. "There are only so many seats where the parties can reasonably invest anyway."

A DCCC spokeswoman had no immediate comment on how the Halpin-Garbarino race played out.

Suffolk County Democratic chairman Rich Schaffer told Newsday on Thursday that because of Halpin’s strong showing, "I have every confidence that national Democratic Party resources will become available in 2028 to complete the work that Pat Halpin started."

Schaffer said Halpin ran "an incredible" race.

"The lesson is clear, that Long Island is not red or blue," he said. "It is purple."