Despite today’s problem with the voting machines, The Yonkers Ledger hopes you were not deterred and went to your polling place and cast your ballot. Voting is the most significant responsibility that we have as citizens, and Election Day is when we pass judgment on candidates. It’s the time we make our voices heard.

With your vote you are now a small part of a momentous election. The nation has turned its attention to whether the Democrats will seize control of Congress, with President Trump urging his supporters to vote as if he were on the ballot. Tonight we will learn whether Trump’s control over the electorate remains intact, or if the country is ready to move on.

In Yonkers, registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a margin of 3-to-1, and all but two elected officials are Democrats. There has been nothing to indicate that Republican challengers have a chance to unseat Democratic incumbents. Without a citywide election for either city council president or mayor, the down-ballot races have been livelier than expected, and the results may provide insights into what will happen next year when Yonkers voters choose our next mayor.

Mayor Mike Spano has been in office a long time — since 2012. He has yet to definitively state whether he will seek to run for an unprecedented fifth term and ask the city council to once again override the term-limit provisions in the city charter. Today’s elections may impact his decision.

Three Crucial Races to Watch

Frank Jereis (Democrat) vs. John Isaac (Republican): New York State Assembly, 90th District (open seat)

Frank Jereis is a 25-year-old who has deep family connections to both the Yonkers Democratic and Republican parties. Within weeks of announcing his candidacy, he raised more than $100,000, entitling him to more than $250,000 in public funding under New York State’s Public Campaign Finance Program. He is the overwhelming favorite.

Because of Jereis’s likely support from Democrats and some Republicans, the question in this race is not if he will be elected, but by how wide a margin. If Jereis wins in a landslide, it would tend to show that the Democratic and Spano political organization, which includes many former Republicans, remains strong and will be a powerful force in next year’s mayoral election. If the race is closer than expected, then perhaps the Democrats and the Spano organization will not have the necessary political support to simply pick who will become the next mayor.

Wilson Terrero (Democrat) vs. Leslye Oquendo-Thomas (Working Families): Westchester County Legislature, 17th District (open seat)

The race for county legislator in the 17th District is a rematch between the rivals in this year’s Democratic primary, where Wilson Terrero defeated Leslye Oquendo-Thomas by four votes. Oquendo-Thomas remains in the race on the Working Families Party line.

Terrero is a Democratic Party insider; he is a ward leader in the Democratic Party and a former city council majority leader. When Oquendo-Thomas announced her candidacy in February, she was promptly fired from her position as city council legislative aide because she went against the wishes of the Democratic Party leadership. Terrero, the party’s choice, continued to serve in a similar city position — aide to the city council in the clerk’s office.

The 17th District is heavily Hispanic, and according to the 2020 census, the Hispanic population in Yonkers is approximately 42%. If Oquendo-Thomas wins on a third-party line, it may indicate that Hispanic voters in the city are not necessarily linked to the Democratic Party and the Spano organization, and may be open to voting for a candidate who does not have the support of the Democratic Party in a mayoral primary.

James Nolan (Republican, incumbent) vs. Kisha D. Skipper (Democrat): Westchester County Legislature, 15th District

The race for county legislator in the 15th District was marred by an unfortunate Oct. 21 incident at a candidates’ forum at the Beczak Environmental Education Center, when Kisha Skipper, James Nolan’s mother, and a former Skipper campaign worker who now supports Nolan were involved in an altercation in the women’s restroom. The facts are in dispute; the Yonkers Police Department issued a statement on Oct. 23 that the incident is still under investigation and 11 days later they have yet to issue an update.

This race is the only competitive race between a Republican incumbent and Democratic challenger. Although the district, which also includes Bronxville and portions of Eastchester, is more evenly divided between registered Democrats and Republicans than Yonkers as a whole, if Nolan is successful in beating back Skipper’s challenge with a coalition of both conservative Democratic and Republican support, it may indicate that there currently aren’t enough independent-minded Yonkers voters willing to support a candidate from outside the Spano sphere of influence in next year’s race for mayor.

We’ll post updates as votes are counted this evening, and will try to interpret whether next year Yonkers voters will be looking for change in city hall.