If unofficial Election Night results hold, Schoharie Supervisor Chris Tague will be the next Assemblyman for the 102nd.
In extremely close voting Tuesday with all 126 of the districts reporting, Mr. Tague, a Republican, captured 45.87 percent of the votes; Democratic challenger Aidan O’Connor Jr., a Greene County legislator, got 44.32 percent of the votes.
Wes Laraway, a Middleburgh Central School teacher and Republican who ran as an independent, got 9.71 percent of the vote.
In numbers, Mr. Tague outpolled Mr. O’Connor 8,547-8,259.
Mr. Laraway got 1,809 votes total.
Absentee ballots still need to be counted and in theory, could swing the election in Mr. O’Connor’s favor.
But Mr. Tague said Wednesday he’s confident his win will hold.
“Usually, they’re [absentee ballots] very, very close to the Election Night results,” he said.
“We ran a very successful absentee ballot program,” he said, with about 100 ballots from Republican and Conservative voters to be counted as the Board of Election certifies the results.
“They’d have to go 75 percent against us to change things,” Mr. Tague added.
Still, even at about 3am Wednesday, sitting with family and friends, the apparent winner, Mr. Tague said he had to pinch himself.
“My hat’s off to Aidan and Wes. They worked very hard,” he said. “In a special election like this, it all comes down to knocking on doors and getting out the vote.
“I knocked on 5,000 doors and made 1,400 personal phone calls. It’s tough running in seven counties where people are like, ‘Chris? Chris who?’’
For his part, Mr. O’Connor isn’t conceding.
“Since the margin is so narrow, this race will be determined by absentee ballots in the coming days and weeks,” he said just before 8am Wednesday in a message to his supporters, adding, “I could not be more proud of our campaign—a campaign focused on inspiration, positivity, and solutions to local issues. To be continued.”
Board of Elections has up to 15 days to certify election results for primaries and up to 25 days to certify them for general elections. It's unclear the timeline for special elections.
Mr. Tague said as a freshman Republican Assemblyman in Democrat-controlled Albany, his focus will be on constituent service—much like his predecessor Pete Lopez.

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Mr. Tague won both Schoharie and Greene Counties as well as Columbia and Otsego.
Mr. O’Connor won Albany, Delaware, and Ulster Counties.
Unofficial county results follow:
--ALBANY: O’Connor, 684; Tague, 658; Laraway, 73.
--COLUMBIA: O’Connor, 281; Tague, 302; Laraway, 2.
--DELAWARE: O’Connor, 675; Tague, 598; Laraway, 60.
--GREENE: O’Connor, 3,516; Tague, 3,609; Laraway, 114.
--OTSEGO—O’Connor, 255; Tague 278; Laraway, 1.
--SCHOHARIE—O’Connor, 1,557; Tague, 2,383; Laraway, 1,507.
--ULSTER: O’Connor, 1,291; Tague, 719; Laraway, 17.