Voters in New York on Tuesday will pick the governor, decide which party controls the state Senate and settle several hotly contested congressional races.
Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo is heavily favored against Republican Rob Astorino, the Westchester County executive. Polls show that Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, both Democrats, also have big leads over their GOP opponents.
Astorino and his running mate, Chemung County Sheriff Chris Moss, are hoping low turnout by Democrats and discontent with the economy will deliver a huge upset. Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins, who came in third in 2010, is also on the ballot.
Cuomo and Astorino voted in Westchester on Tuesday morning.
At the governor's polling place in Mount Kisco, about 70 Cuomo supporters chanting "Four more years!" drowned out two dozen anti-hydraulic-fracturing protesters who shouted, "Ban fracking now!"
Cuomo arrived in a black SUV with his girlfriend, TV chef Sandra Lee.
"I feel good about the direction the state is headed in," Cuomo said after voting. He said "taxes are down for every New Yorker" and there are more private sector jobs than ever in New York.
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"Are we bumping up against perfection? No," he said. "But I feel very good about the future of the state."
Astorino voted at Hawthorne Elementary School, situated in a modest, leafy neighborhood of single-family houses in suburban Westchester. With Astorino were his wife, Sheila, and their three children: Sean, 12, Kiley, 9, and Ashlin, 5, who carried a stuffed animal.
"Good morning everybody!" Astorino said. "Let's do it together, ready?" he said to Ashlin, who stayed by his side as he voted.
Other voters at Astorino's polling place said they voted for their local candidate.
Frank Ragusa, 26, and his mother Kim Luciano, 52, gave a thumbs-up to Astorino as he arrived.
"He's a good friend of ours, I trust him," Luciano said. "He goes to our parish," added Ragusa, wearing a leather New York Giants jacket.
Reginald Valentine Sr., a 70-year-old retiree voting in Manhattan, cited the New York SAFE Act, the gun-control law Cuomo signed in to law in January 2013, as one of the reasons he chose Cuomo. Also, Valentine said, "I liked his daddy."
In other races, Schneiderman faces John Cahill, a former top aide to former Gov. George Pataki. DiNapoli faces Robert Antonacci, the Onondaga County comptroller.
Contests for the U.S. House and the state Senate are harder to gauge. Democrats already control the state Assembly and hope to win a majority in the state Senate, too. Republicans now run the Senate thanks to an unusual power-sharing agreement with a breakaway faction of Democrats.
Republicans warn that control by Democrats would hurt the economy, and they are hoping victories on Long Island and upstate will give them a clear majority. Democrats say Republicans are obstructionists who have blocked passage of bills to protect abortion rights, raise the minimum wage and extend financial aid to students in the country illegally.
"New Yorkers want bipartisanship and balance, not an entire state government controlled by liberal Democrats from New York City," said Republican Senate Leader Dean Skelos. "They don't want higher taxes or the chaos and dysfunction we saw with one-party rule in 2009-10."
Among the state's 27 U.S. House seats, one particularly contentious race is in northern New York where former George W. Bush White House aide Elise Stefanik hopes to replace retiring Democratic U.S. Rep. Bill Owens by beating another first-time candidate, Democrat Aaron Woolf, a documentary filmmaker.
In a contest for another open district, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, a Democrat, faces Republican Bruce Blakeman for a seat being vacated by Democratic Rep. Carolyn McCarthy.
A handful of incumbents from both parties face tough challenges Tuesday. Democrat Domenic Recchia is challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm for his seat in Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn. Recchia has dogged Grimm over his legal troubles; Grimm is accused of tax evasion and has pleaded not guilty to 20 counts.
Democrat Dan Maffei is hoping to defend his seat in a Syracuse-area swing district against Republican candidate John Katko. GOP Rep. Chris Gibson faces Democrat Sean Eldridge on the Hudson Valley. Eldridge has spent more than $1.8 million of his own money on the race. To the south, Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney faces a rematch against Republican Nan Hayworth.
Voters will also decide ballot questions Tuesday, including one that, if approved, would create a state commission to oversee redistricting. Another would authorize the state to borrow $2 billion so schools can buy computers, connect to the Internet, install high-tech security features and build classrooms for prekindergarten students.
