With 95 percent of the votes in, Sherri Eisenpress' campaign workers popped champagne bottles at Crowne Plaza in Suffern. A short while longer, Valley Cottage Democrat Eisenpress was the winner in the primary race for Rockland County Court Judge against three other Democratic Candidates. This was also Eisenpress' first time running for an elected position.
Here are the results:
- Sherri Eisenpress: 8,163 votes; 49.26 percent
- Karen Riley: 5,830 votes; 35.18 percent
- Ed Kallen: 2,016 votes; 12.17 percent
- Itamar Yeger: 413 votes; 2.49 percent
The race was close with Riley pulling away at the beginning. Then Eisenpress was right behind Riley in number of votes before passing her and the rest is history.
"This room looks a lot like my campaign," Eisenpress said. "It's made up of a lot of diverse people in Rockland County and that makes me very proud. I want to congratulate all the others that won their races today."
Eisenpress continued on thanking her family, friends, campaign workers and
"It's wonderful. It feels magical," said Wanda Nieves, Eisenpress’ partner of eight years. "“This election has been an experience of a lifetime. A journey unto itself. The campaign worked really hard. This has always been a dream for her. When I first met her, she told me that she wanted to become a judge. She's almost there. No doubt she'll win that one (November Election) too. When she's meant to be, she's meant to be."
"It was a great night for Sherri Eisenpress," said Clarkstown Councilwoman Stephanie Hausner. "She's going to be a great family court judge and Aney Paul is going to be an incredible legislator. She still has the general election, but it's a great turnout for these two strong democratic women's primaries."
"I'm really glad the democratic primary is over and that democrats can come together and be unified to make sure that they're represented in the county and that we get the best people elected," said New York Senator David Carlucci. "The primaries are always difficult because we don't have much in terms of identification. You've got to go on purely on what you hear, what people are talking about. My hope is that these people who obviously won will do a great job and the people who lost will continue to stay involved both (in their civic duties) and politically. Having that unity is important."
