Thank God it’s over! By that I don’t mean the race for Woodstock town supervisor or the rejection of consolidation of town and village in New Paltz, but that awful, nasty spit-fest between Republican Mike Lawler and Democrat challenger Cait Conley in our neighboring 17th Congressional District to the south. It was one of the ugliest campaigns in the country and right at our doorstep, right on our TVs, every night for months on end.

Trump was the x-factor, and it showed across the board. He’ll probably blame lousy candidates for losing the House and Senate.

Hereabouts, Ulster County Democrats, riding a 2-1 advantage in enrollment, picked up a seat in the county legislature, giving them an even 20 out of 23. It only tweaks the needle by a single seat, but it dashed any hopes Republicans might have had to begin a comeback.

The Republican in front of the firing squad was the inestimable Jason Kovacs. Republicans of the Town of Ulster, who by unofficial returns lost his seat by 40 votes to newcomer Kate Leon. Kovacs doesn’t have to call for a recount; it’s automatic.

Kovacs, an attorney, was (is) the kind of bipartisan across the aisle official we all wish for but seldom get in these times of partisan warfare. Nothing against his opponent, but sometimes voters get it wrong.

Voting for winners ranged from a low of around 1,700 to ticket-leading Jeff Collins of Woodstock, who racked up 3,769 votes. By comparison, Legislature Chairman Peter Criswell of Kingston, running unopposed like Collins, tallied 2,351 votes. On average legislative districts contain about 7,800 residents, half of them registered voters.

Rep. Pat Ryan rolled as expected, taking 68 percent against not-ready-for-prime-time Jackie Auringer in our 18th Congressional District.

Nineteenth Congressional District incumbent Democrat Josh Riley and Republican Peter Oberacker didn’t spend much time campaigning in Ulster, but Democrats came out anyway, like they did everywhere. Riley polled 68 percent of the vote.

Before Democrats get too puffed up about these winning percentages, I’d like to remind them of an advisory from former icon Rep. Maurice Hinchey of Saugerties. “Anybody,” he used to say, “can get 35 percent. You just have to get on the ballot.”

State Sen. Michelle Hinchey, D-Saugerties, waged a vigorous campaign for a third term, taking 68 percent against perennial ticket filler Pat Sheehan, Republican of Ruby. Re: the iconic Maurice, Sheehan had no money, no campaign and no hope, but still drew over 17,000 votes, but not 35 percent.

There’s another standard nitpickers used to go by. "Voting the enrollment" meant the candidate, opposed or not, polled as many votes as his party enrollment. Democratic enrollment in Ulster is approaching 60,000. Closest to voting the enrollment was Sheriff Juan Figueroa, running unopposed for a third term, with 55,857 votes.

Of some interest were the 1,022 write-ins for that race, an unusually high number. There used to be a group of agitators in the department dubbed the “disgruntled deputies.” Apparently, there’s still a few out there.

In New Paltz, townies and villagers put their dispute over consolidation to the test on Tuesday. To the surprise of some, both municipalities voted decisively against joining each other. No surprise here. On the town level, there was concern about picking up village expenses. In the village, autonomy was a big issue.

This one may have further political ramifications. Town Supervisor Tim Rogers was a strong advocate for consolidation. Village Mayor Alexandria Wojcik came out on the winning end. For one of them, to quote our assemblywoman, the future will be beautiful.

The contest for supervisor in Woodstock raised lots of smoke, but not much fire as incumbent Anula Courtis turned aside a write-in challenge by Megan Raimondo by a 2-1 margin. Write-in votes are about as pure a democracy available these days, but almost always end with party nominees prevailing. Indeed, in political circles, there is another word for write-in. It’s called loser. That Raimondo drew more than 1,000 write-ins might be a record.

At the least, Woodstock’s supervisor, just finishing her first year in office, knows by now the natives are restless. She should govern accordingly.

All results are unofficial until the election is certified in a couple weeks by the county Board of Elections.

Footnotes

Almost 40 percent of residents voted against the Town of Wawarsing allocating $99,000 to the Cragsmoor Library. Talk about restless natives. In library votes, trustees usually control the action.

County Clerk Taylor Bruck was glad to see Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton buried in Texas. “Maybe he’ll leave me alone now,” he quipped.

Paxton, as state attorney general, is suing Bruck for blocking his lawsuit against a New Paltz doctor for mailing pregnancy-ending medication to a woman in Texas.

And not to mention him as an afterthought, but City Judge Phil Kirschner, running unopposed, was reelected to a 10-year term with 6,759 votes. A nice total that, and a reflection on the stalwart job he does on the bench under less-than-ideal circumstances.

Remember the old TV comedy “Night Court”? There’s not a lot of laughs in Kingston’s busy city court.