Gray defeats Duffy in 116th Assembly race

WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) - Scott Gray has defeated Susan Duffy in the race for the 116th Assembly District.

“It’s been a great eight months, that’s all I can say,” Gray said Tuesday night.

Eight months after announcing his candidacy for the 116th Assembly District, Gray declared victory over Duffy.

The former Jefferson County Legislature chairman will represent parts Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties in what’s known as the River District.

Calling it a tremendous victory, Gray says his campaign helped him win the seat.

“We talked to the voters, and that was the most important thing,” he said. “I was indifferent to what my opponent was doing in her campaign, and we just stayed focused, and disciplined on the voters.”

Shortly after 1 a.m. on Wednesday, Gray had 70% of the votes. Duffy had 30%, a wide enough margin to call the race.

Duffy, who lost the Republican primary against Gray in August, ran on the Conservative Party line.

She says she wouldn’t have done anything differently.

“We worked really hard,” she said. “I mean, come on, we always knew it was an uphill battle. I am a third-party candidate. We had a huge wave of voters come out, just unprecedented that came out, and people do tend to go to party line.”

Duffy also said she hopes Gray keeps his promises.

“I will hope that my opponent will, you know, he made a lot of promises in this race and that he will go into this office and show some integrity, and we look at accountability.”

Gray says he’ll be sure his voice — and the voices of his constituents — are heard in Albany.

“I know when I have to rise up and stand up for the people and what matters to the north country, and I will do that when it’s necessary,” he said, “and I will also try to influence legislation down there as much as I can.”

The vote count was 24,817 for Gray and 10,406 for Duffy

Gray will replace Republican Mark Walczyk, who ran unopposed for the 49th state Senate seat.

Watch our live coverage of the Assembly race in the video below.

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