“A political earthquake”: Republicans took a seat Democrats controlled for 20 years in New York

Not everything was a disaster for the Republican Party last Tuesday, on the famous election day.

Although the GOP suffered tough defeats in Ohio, Mississippi and Virginia, in New York, Republicans can at least say that they swept Long Island, where they took from Democrats an office they had controlled for 20 years.

According to projections by The Associated Press, Republican Ed Romaine defeated Democrat Dave Calone with 56% of the vote to become the first Republican to win the Suffolk County executive seat in two decades.

Romaine's victory is notable for two reasons. The first is that Republicans are now in control of eastern Long Island, where the GOP controls all county-level offices in Nassau and Suffolk and all four congressional seats.

The second is that the GOP created a true red wave in this area of New York, a political phenomenon that experts attribute to the increase in crime while Democrats push to reduce the police budget.

New York Republicans did not waste the opportunity and celebrated Ed Romaine's great victory.

"For the third year in a row,[Republicans] in New York had a great night, defeating incumbents and winning upset elections across the state," said New York GOP Chairman Ed Cox, noting that Long Island has become a "Republican bastion."

Likewise, former Republican senator Al D'Amato told the New York Post that Ed Romaine's victory represented "a political earthquake."