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Rep. Joe Morelle handily defeated challenger Robin Wilt in Tuesday’s Democratic primary in the 25th Congressional District. It was her third attempt to become the party’s candidate for the seat.
Morelle received 63% of the vote. Wilt, who served on the Brighton town board from 2018 to 2025, had 30%. Sherita Traywick, a pastor and the founder of Young & Gifted Ministries, finished third with 6%.
Wilt challenged Morelle in 2018, the year he first won the congressional seat, and in 2020. This year, as before, Morelle’s financial edge was enormous. From January 2025 to June 3, 2026, his campaign spent $1.55 million compared with $38,221 spent by Wilt and $3,289 by Traywick.
In November, Morelle will square off against Republican Virgina McIntyre, a Monroe County legislator representing Gates and parts of Greece.
In the area’s other Democratic congressional primary, Alissa Ellman, a veteran from Lockport, prevailed over Diana Kastenbaum, a Batavia resident and former CEO of Pinnacle Manufacturing, in the 24th District contest. With 98% of districts reporting, Ellman had nearly 59% of the vote.
She will face Rep. Claudia Tenney this fall. A Republican, Tenney first won a congressional seat in 2016 in District 22, a Central New York district. She lost her reelection bid in 2018 but won again in 2020.
With redistricting, Tenney moved into District 24, which has proved to be a GOP stronghold. In the two elections since redistricting, Tenney won in 2022 against Steven Holden with 66% percent of the vote and in 2024 against David Wagenhauser by the same margin.
The state Assembly’s 130th District, which spans the town of Webster and all of Wayne County, featured two primaries this year, with five candidates bidding to succeed Republican Brian Manktelow, an eight-year incumbent who decided not to seek re-election. In the GOP contest, George Dobbins, with nearly 39% of votes cast, edged Summer Johnson (32%) and Mark Johns (27%). Manktelow and the Wayne County Republican Party endorsed Dobbins, while the Monroe County GOP backed Johns.
In the Democratic primary, Carl Fitzsimmons had a narrow lead over Joseph Lamanna with all election districts reporting. Fitzsimmons, a veteran and an engineer who worked in telecommunications, had 48% of the vote versus 47% for Lamanna, who was a union leader with the United Auto Workers. The two were separated by 49 votes out of 4,297 cast.
In the 137th Assembly District, incumbent Demond Meeks swept past Monroe County legislator Mercedes Vazquez-Simmons, 78% to 18%.
For more than three decades, the seat was held by the late David Gantt. In the Democratic primary contest to replace him in 2020, Meeks defeated Ernest Flagler-Mitchell, the candidate backed by Gantt and Monroe County’s Democratic Party leadership. Meeks then won the 2024 Democratic primary, beating City Council member Willie Lightfoot Jr. In this year’s general election, Meeks will face Republican Dave Ferris.
In the state Senate’s 54th District, which includes Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, and Wayne counties, Michael Mills was leading the Democratic primary over Scott Comegys. With all but one of 247 election districts reporting, Mills, a former Canandaigua City Council member, had 50% of votes cast; Comegys, an alpaca farmer in Palmyra, trailed with 47%.
The winner will challenge incumbent Republican Pamela Helming. Two years ago, she defeated Comegys with 64% of the vote.
In the lone statewide primary, incumbent Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli won 72% of votes cast to easily prevail over two Democratic challengers, Drew Warshaw (16%) and Raj Goyle (12%).
All election results reported Tuesday evening, which include blank, void and write-in votes, are unofficial.
Paul Ericson is Rochester Beacon executive editor.
The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. See “Leave a Reply” below to discuss on this post. Comments of a general nature may be submitted to the Letters page by emailing [email protected].
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https://medium.com/@howardjeagle/a-critique-of-the-flim-flam-political-con-game-lets-put-the-big-lie-to-rest-that-rochester-e1e129b00b3d
If anything sunk Wilt it was her hate filled campaign, lots of spewing hate and innuendo and offering no realistic solutions. Trump spews hate, see how that’s working.
Hate from the left ain’t no better than hate from the left
No amount of money could change that. She is her own worst enemy.
Pay attention and learn this lesson, “Anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.” ~Yoda …and Buddha…and Jesus…and Lincoln….
Gary,
STOP making stuff up. If you can produce even ONE credible example, in which Robin so-called “spewed hate” – I promise to NEVER post here again – just ONE!!!
Sure, too easy…go to Durand Eastman Park.
Look at the signs along the walking path. You’ll see stickers her campaign produced stating all kinds of hateful things about Morelle.
I would have thought you would have paid attention to the campaign, and Wilt’s hateful accusation that Morelle is a misogynist, like her campaign material states, I guess not. All negative, no positive agenda.
We’re going to miss you posting here.
STOP IT!!! The local, thoroughly racist, white-supremacist-based “demoRATIC” Party definitely does NOT have a so-called “socialist fringe,” nor a “socialist” anything else!!!
It’s not coasting to a win. It’s the continuation of relentless engagement. You constantly meet people who say the met Morelle, know him from his visits to their church or synagogue, knew his family, had him as a student. He has been relentlessly present, meeting his constituents in person. Hard work and worn shoe leather ain’t “coasting.”
MESSAGING, MESSAGING,
Rep. Morelle, to wake up voters to the TRUMPISM threat, now!
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Please turn your attention to the problem of waking up voters, now that you won, the primary.
Democratic messaging may not, be working to turn the House and Senate Democratic, now…
(Again, I suggest having IDEA CONTESTS, open to the public, to find better MESSAGING…
===============================================================
Just one voters opinion > Congressman Morelle did not win the primary due to more financing and spending. He was the BETTER candidate. To me, this is just a simple fact.
Some locals don’t seem to appreciate how much Morelle’s capital has grown in Congress. In time he will fill Slaughter’s shoes.
I’m still waiting for Slaughter to fill her own shoes…. whatever happened to the bright future with thousands of jobs of photonics? Morelle needs to be far better than Slaughter was and he isn’t showing any promise.
Heck, I’m still wondering what became of Eric Massa’s promise of hydrogen fuel cell technology for vehicles developed in Honeoye Falls. Through both of Massa’s campaigns fuels cells were said to be just 2 years away.
Louise Slaughter was a godsend to us. To criticize her for failings beyond her control when she was fighting to bring prosperity to the area is just wrong.
Whether one agrees or likes Morelle it is a fact that he is emerging as a leader in congress as a fighter against the Trump administration. This is evidenced by his increasing presence on national media outlets and being chosen to lead aspects of the effort.
You may even hate him, but you can’t deny his work ethic and leadership.
“Morelle did not win the primary due to more financing and spending” (ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…)!!! Right – we all know that- when it comes to winning elections – for candidates to have millions of dollars at their disposal (if needed) – doesn’t matter (ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…)!!!
Oh please…enough of the hate…
If it acts like a socialist, talks like a socialist, walks like a socialist and calls it self a socialist, it’s fair to say it’s a socialist.
“hate”??? Those who constantly rant about imaginary, so called “hate” – guess what???
Howie, Howard doesn’t do facts, they get in the way of his opinions.
For instance, here he is confused, he simply can’t accept Morelli was the better candidate.
Morelli didn’t stoop to Wilt’s negativity, or name calling, he appealed the grass roots, and he had the better message.
Robin Wilt is her own worse enemy.
Pay attention Gary!!! I admitted that Morelle (you spelled his name wrong) – was indeed the “better”-FINANCED candidate.
No one should be surprised at Morelle’s trouncing of Wilt.
Wilt has established herself as an out-of-touch fringe candidate, and even in a primary in which the base reigns supreme she couldn’t garner support beyond the neo-progressive self identified socialists fringe of the Democratic party.