Judicial races tight across LI

A lot was on the line for those seeking a judgeship Tuesday in Nassau and Suffolk.

By early Wednesday, as vote tallies solidified, there appeared to be clear answers in those battles for the bench in both counties.

Prominent on the scorecard was the race for State Supreme Court Justice, 10th District, where eight candidates were seeking four seats.

With 1,037 of the 1,047 election districts reporting the Suffolk County Board of Elections is showing that Andrew A. Crecca, Daniel R. Palmieri, Gerard W. Asher and Norman Janowitz earned the seats, besting Sondra L. Pardes, Ralph F. Costello, William A. DeVore and Robert H. Spergel.

Those same four candidates led the field in the Nassau County portion of the vote, which showed 1,157 of 1,160 of its precincts reporting.

No less definitive appeared to be the outcome of the race for Suffolk County Court Judge, where Stephen L. Braslow, a Democrat, and James C. Hudson, a Republican, were leading Richard Ambro, a Democrat, and Stephen Behar, a Republican, also with 1,037 of 1,047 of the election districts reporting.

Braslow had 315,970 votes, Hudson 311,473, Behar 169,951 and Ambro 157,255.

Conservative Bernard C. Cheng held huge leads over Republican Caren L. Loguercio - by more than 100,000 votes - and Democrat Chris Ann Kelley - by more than 160,000 votes - for a seat on the Suffolk Family Court. As the two vote-getters, Cheng and Loguercio won the posts.

The fight in the 5th District Court, the Town of Islip, remained close into Wednesday morning and with results in seven of the 223 election districts still outstanding Republican Philip Goglas held a narrow edge over Democrat Robert J. Curran, 31,860-29,990.

There were just two candidates for two open seats in both the 2nd District, Town of Babylon, and the 3rd, Huntington, which meant Toni A. Bean and Joseph A. Santorelli won election in Babylon, while Martin I. Efman and John Andrew Kay won in Huntington.

In the Nassau Surrogate's Court race Republican Edward W. McCarty III, 64, a Supreme Court justice, was leading Judge John B. Riordan, 67, a Democrat, by 4,829 votes with three precincts still outstanding.

To which McCarty said: "Things are looking good."

Early Wednesday Republican Merik R. Aaron was leading Democrat Adam E. Small by about 18,000 votes for a seat in Nassau Family Court.

The four candidates in Nassau's 2nd District Court contest were running neck-and-neck with David W. McAndrew and Helen Voutsinas holding slim margins over Bonnie P. Chaikin and Eric Bjorneby. In the 4th District Republican Margaret C. Reilly was leading her challenger, Joseph M. Terino Jr., a Democrat.

ISLANDWIDE

State Supreme Court (vote for 4)

W. Gerard Asher (R, C)

Ralph F. Costello (D, I, WF)

William A. DeVore (D, I, WF)

Andrew A. Grecca (R, C)

Norman Janowitz (R, C)

Daniel R. Palmieri (R, C)

Sondra L. Pardes (D, I, WF)

Robert H. Spergel (D, I, WF)

NASSAU

Surrogate's Court

Edward W. McCarty (R, C)

John B. Riordan (D, I, WF)

Nassau Family Court Judge

Merik R. Aaron (R, C, I)

Adam E. Small (D, WF)

Nassau District Court

2nd District (Hempstead), (vote for 2)

Eric Bjorneby (R, C)

Bonnie P. Chaikin (D, WF)

David W. McAndrews (R, C, I)

Helen Voutsinas (D, I, WF)

4th District (Glen Cove, Oyster), (vote for 1)

Margaret C. Reilly (R, C, I, WF)

Joseph M. Terino, Jr. (D)

SUFFOLK

Suffolk County Court (vote for any 3)

Richard Ambro (D, I, WF)

Stephen Behar (R, C)

Stephen L. Braslow (D, R, I, C, WF)

James C. Hudson (R, D, I, C)

Suffolk Family Court (vote for any 2)

Bernard C. Cheng (C, R, D, I)

Chris Ann Kelley (D)

Caren L. Loguercio (R, C, I)

Suffolk District Court

2nd District (Babylon), (vote for 2)

Toni A. Bean (D, R, C, I)

Joseph A. Santorelli (R, D, C, I)

3rd District (Huntington), (vote for 2)

Martin I. Efman (D, R, I, C)

John Andrew Kay (C, D, C, I)

5th District (Islip), (vote for 1)

Robert J. Curran (D, I, WF)

Philip Goglas (R, C)

With Denise Bonilla and William Murphy