In the Village of Tuckahoe, with a resounding total of more than one thousand votes, Mayor Omayra Andino won re-election, defeating Republican challenger Joseph ‘Scooter’ Scott with 55% of the vote—1,029 votes overall. History was made in Tuckahoe in March 2021 when, for the first time, its mayor was a woman and a person of color. Omayra Andino now wins a second term on Tuesday night.
“When we exercise our right to vote, we uplift Democracy. The people of Tuckahoe have spoken loudly and I’m honored to continue to serve them as Mayor alongside my passionate and competent colleague, Josh. Unfortunately, due to a technicality, our friend and running mate, Darryl Taylor, did not cross the finish line with us. It’s a heartbreak as we move forward to do the will of the people,” Mayor Omayra Andino shared with Black Westchester Wednesday morning.
Democrat Joshua Gaccione was the top finisher in the race for two Trustee seats on Tuckahoe’s Village Board, with 29% of the vote—982 votes overall, nearly one-third of all votes. The electoral victory was the first for Gaccione, who was appointed last April to fill a vacant Board seat.
“Seven months ago, I made a promise to the voters of Tuckahoe that I would do everything to earn their votes,” Gaccione said. “I am honored and humbled by the overwhelming support, and I look forward to continuing to work with the mayor and my fellow trustees to keep moving Tuckahoe forward.”
The winner of the second Trustee seat was Republican Danny Lang, who previously served two terms as a Tuckahoe trustee. Lang received 25% of the vote—840 votes overall. The runners-up in the Trustee race were Republican Claudia Demaio-Francis and incumbent Darryl Taylor, who was running only on the Bipartisan ballot line. On October 24, neither Lang nor Demaio-Francis showed up for the League of Women Voters’ candidate forum at Tuckahoe’s Village Hall.
In all, nearly one-fourth of Tuckahoe’s registered voters cast ballots in what was a historic election for the Village. It was the first time in more than a century that the Village election was held in the fall. In a 2022 ballot question, voters overwhelmingly approved switching Tuckahoe’s election from March to November.
“We are gratified by the higher-than-usual voter turnout in this election,” said Tuckahoe Democratic Party Chair Julie Gurdin. “When Mayor Andino and the Trustees decided to let voters decide when best to hold our election, she was confident that it would increase interest and participation in Village life – and that has proven to be the case. The broad-based support Omayra received shows that voters welcome the leadership, dignity, and accountability that she, Josh, and Darryl brought to the Board – and the commitment of all three inspired a wave of work by our dedicated volunteers.”
The Village has benefitted in both visible and intangible ways under Andino’s leadership. While nearly a third of Tuckahoe streets have been repaved and major upgrades were completed at Main Street Park and the Community Center, Village finances have never been stronger, as its credit rating was raised to an all-time high AA-plus by S & P.
Gaccione and Lang join Deputy Mayor Cara Kronen and Trustee Nicole Engelbert on the Village Board. Kronen and Engelbert, both Democrats, were elected last year.
“Naturally, I am disappointed about not rejoining the Board,” Taylor said. “But there are many ways to volunteer in our village, so I’ll continue to provide leadership at ECAP as we work to make the lives of those in our beloved Tuckahoe better. I encourage everyone to come forward to serve our community.”
Dear Mr. Woodson,
It is with great disappointment that I write to you about your article concerning the Tuckahoe election this past November 7th. As an institution that calls itself Black Westchester, I find it curious that in your reporting you overlooked what truly made this election historic from a black perspective. I was the first black American to run for the office of mayor in Tuckahoe. Indeed, the mayoral race was between two people of color, also an historic first for the village. Yet, you cite the movement of the election to November as what is worthy of historic note.
It is also curious that the Yonkers Times and Westchester Rising gave me more coverage and attention than did a publication supposedly dedicated to the black population in our county. They even endorsed me after watching my debate. Even if you disagree with my party affiliation, don’t you owe it to your readers to reach out to me and have a conversation? What is the difference between political bigotry and racial, religious, or any other bigotry?
Lastly and most concerning, your article is a virtual word for word copy of the one found on the Tuckahoe democrats web page, published the day before yours. That is not journalism, it’s propaganda. I hope that in the future you will make an effort to represent an accurate picture of the politics in Tuckahoe and the rest of Westchester, especially as the number of black republicans continues to rise in our county. Then you will truly be living up to the appellation “Black Westchester.” Thank you for having the integrity to publish this.
Looking forward
Joseph “Scooter” Scott
First, I reported the news of the Mayor winning re-election. Secondly, I met you when you introduced yourself to me at the Tuckahoe Juneteenth event in the park (before the Democratic Primary), gave you my contact information, and told you to get in touch with me closer to the general election since you were running on the Republican line and the interview would be more timely then, which you did not do, and I find it curious that I am only hearing from you now after you lost the election talking about not getting coverage. We spoke, and I told you to call me and set up an interview before the election in June. I told you I would definitely interview you if you called, and you said you would follow up, but this is the first time I’m hearing from you. I covered a lot of elections in Westchester, so your not following up with me may have more to do with your lack of coverage than anything you wrote above. I am glad you got coverage in other publications; that’s the purpose of multiple publications, so together we can hopefully cover all the candidates. Please do not try to play the Black card when, while we do agree on some things, you do not represent me or Black Westchester, nor did you see fit to contact us or even add us to your email list to keep me in the loop on the goings on with your campaign. So please do not come to me now and try to call me out for the lack of coverage you got when all you had to do was follow up. I gave you my contact information; you did not give me information to contact you. You are one of many candidates I met this year. It was not my responsibility to chase after you to give you coverage. As a candidate, if you are looking for coverage, it is you and your team’s responsibility to follow up with us. Your opponent followed up with us and her running mates, was on the show, and eventually got our endorsement. As you see, I approved your comment because we don’t run from anything or shy away from any conversation. I don’t know if you thought we wouldn’t approve your comment for some reason, but you can miss me with the I owe you because you are Black to chase after you to interview you, my brother. Your opponent is Black and Latina so you are not the first black person (first Black man maybe) but not the first Black person to run for Mayor in Tuckahoe. If it were important to you, you would have reached out to us. As a Black candidate, do not try to question our Blackness, our resume and body of work speak for itself, I have covered several Black Republicans, but you didn’t see the importance of advertising in one of the only Black media outlets in the area, so there is that as far as being all-pro-Black as you try to portray yourself. I hope that in the future you will do your due diligence, reach out and keep the Black press informed on your campaign. Lastly, while I’m sure there may be similarities in articles about the same election, I assure you that whatever publication you are referring to doesn’t have all the content, quotes, and breakdown of the votes that ours does, so please stop it and do not try to discredit us or question our credibility because you dropped the ball and did not get coverage. And you can miss me with all the political, racial or religious bigotry talk, if you actually followed us and read us on a regular basis, you wouldn’t even come with that. Man up and admit you did not follow up, and you dropped the ball and therefore did not get the coverage. From our conversation, you should know this is not that type of website or newspaper. We do not owe you or any other Black candidate to chase after them to give them coverage, regardless of your party affiliation; we also had that conversation. You have my contact information if you want to continue this conversation, but thank you for reading the website and leaving a comment. Peace and blessings, Black man!