In an election season that saw rebuilding Schoharie County from Hurricane Irene and hydrofracking dominate the conversation, there will be several new faces leading the charge ahead in 2012.
Unofficial results show that Democrats have taken control of the Board of Supervisors with Gene Milone winning in Schoharie and James Buzon winning in Middleburgh.
Elections officials indicated that results may change because of the large number of absentee ballots still being counted, many from voters displaced by Irene.
In Cobleskill, Democratic Supervisor Tom Murray defeated longtime Councilman Ken Hotopp, 729-561.
And already last night, Mr. Murray was talking of the need to keep working on economic growth and jobs-especially in light of the flood's devastation.
"We didn't need an election in the middle of all the work we have ahead of us," Mr. Murray said, pledging again to bring expanded water and sewer lines to the town.
"They say this is a thankless job, but it's not," he added, referring to his win. "It feels really good.
For his part, Mr. Hotopp thanked everyone who voted for him and the people who helped with his campaign, "my wife, Roger Cohn, the McAllisters...It was a good team.
"The people voted," he continued. "They deserve the government they get. I hope he [Tom] can do the job. Congratulations to the winning members of out team. I'm disappointed the rest didn't win."
The county's only supervisor's race upset came in Schoharie, where Mr. Milone, a Democrat, defeated seven-term Republican Supervisor Martin Shrederis, 411-373.
In Middleburgh, where there was no incumbent, Democrat Jim Buzon, defeated David Lloyd, 423-378.
At the county level, County Clerk Indy Jaycox, another Republican, easily held onto her seat, outpolling Democratic challenger Gary Hayes, 4725-2,644.
"I'm very grateful," Ms. Jaycox said of her win.
"I'm excited to be able to do another four years. My goal was to win by at least 2,000 votes and I did it without any trouble. I'm thankful for all the people who believe in me."
Mr. Hayes congratulated his opponent.
"The voters have spoken. Good luck to Indy. Congratulations."
In Sharon Springs, Supervisor Sandra Manko ran unopposed, but a councilmen's race for two seats saw incumbents Carl Ullman and Brian Young keep their jobs over a challenge from anti-fracking candidates Nancy Pfau and Glenn Goldfarb.
A resolution to increase the Sharon library's budget by $5,000 passed 273-136.
All election results are unofficial; write-ins could also come into play in Esperance where Steve Miller ran a write-in campaign against longtime Republican Supervisor Earl VanWormer.
Also complicating last night's returns was the fact that the flooded-out Board of Elections is operating out of Public Transportation in Cobleskill instead of Schoharie.
Results were only available online.