Tea Party active in both campaigns

From Eric Dondero:

Special elections were held on Tuesday across New York to fill four vacancies in the State Assembly. A Republican upstate won a seat already held by the GOP, and a Democrat maintained a Dem seat in Queens. However, New York Republicans gained two seats formerly held by the Democrats.

From the Albany Project:

Two suburban seats that were Democratic are now Republican -- AD 3 (Suffolk County), where Dean Murray (photo) beat Lynn Thoden (it's close, but absentees usually follow the machine vote), and AD 89 (Westchester County), where Robert Castelli beat Peter Harckham by 10 percent.

Castelli of White Plains won with 56%. Murray won in the final count with a slim 51%.

Murray is local chairman of his Tea Party group. He campaigned to abolish the MTA (Metro Transit Authority) tax.

Long Island Tea Party movement leader Stephen Flannagan put out a release:

This was a great victory for the Tea Party Movement in New York State!
Once again, Long Island leads the way!

We won in a district the Liberals considered "safe". This district has been held by democrats for over 30 years!

Liberals (including ACORN and the Teachers Union) spent the last week promising to break the momentum of the Tea Party movement. WRONG!

We the People win again.

As for Castelli, wrote NewsCopy New York:

the presence of tea party activists across the mid and lower Hudson Valley during this special election couldn't be missed.

Note - Castelli is a Vietnam War Veteran. Murray's son is currently serving in the Air National Guard in Afghanistan