Nathan Wins Tight Council Race After Absentee Ballot Count

UPDATED: Story has been updated Thursday morning with vote counts from the Board of Elections – see below.

Josh Nathan has won a tight city council race following the Board of Elections count of all 168 outstanding absentee ballots. The Board completed its absentee count Wednesday afternoon. Nathan will assume the remaining two year term of Pam Tarlow’s council seat.

Nathan, who ran on the Democratic ticket, topped his GOP challenger Jana Seitz by 94 votes, an increase from the 18 vote lead he had after election eve and before the absentee count. The race ended with a 51% to 49% split in favor of Nathan.

“It is a great honor and privilege to have been elected to represent the community I have lived in for over 20 years,” said now Councilman Josh Nathan. “Congratulations to Jana Seitz on running an impressive campaign, I have deep respect for her. Thank you to all who participated in this election, our community’s strength comes from broad based engagement. I am looking forward to working with my colleagues on the Rye City Council to tackle the issues facing Rye residents.”

“First I want to congratulate Josh Nathan on his victory today and offer my support in any way possible as he joins my running mate Bill Henderson on the new Rye City Council,” said Jana Seitz. “Rye is a wonderful city but more so a wonderful community with its own challenges and opportunities. I offer Mayor Cohn and the six members of the City Council my very best.”

“When I decided to run for City Council I made a promise to myself to run a clean campaign, focused only on the issues facing Rye,” Seitz continued. “I am proud of the campaign I ran which stayed true to this ideal. Rye deserved no less. I am also very thankful for all the work and assistance from my family, my campaign team, and all who supported me in the campaign. Finally, I have been humbled by and am grateful for the faith the people of Rye had in me this election. My commitment and service to Rye will continue.”

Read our Q&A with Nathan from September.

UPDATE:

Here are the unofficial vote counts provided by the Board of Elections to MyRye.com Thursday morning. Certified Election results will not be available until the end of November or early December.

Nathan 1,597 votes (election day) 119 (absentee) 1,716 (total – 51%)

Seitz 1,580 votes (election day) 42 (absentee) 1,622 (total – 49%)