New York City – A Bad Night For Bloomberg, His Supported Candidates Lost

New York City – This election night is shaping up to be kind of a bust for Mayor Bloomberg as far as his endorsed candidates are concerned.

Connecticut Republican Rep. Chris Shays, who not only received Bloomberg’s in-person endorsement but also had him appear in an TV ad, which is a lot more than any of the New York state Senate GOP candidates can say the mayor did for them, lost his seat tonight to Democrat Jim Himes.

In New Jersey, Dennis Shulman, the Democratic “blind rabbi,” failed to oust his Republican target, incumbent Rep. Scott Garrett. Bloomberg endorsed Shulman last week as it appeared he was picking up steam.

Meanwhile, here at home, it appears the Democrats are poised to take control of the state Senate, which is not good news for Bloomberg, a longtime financial backer of the Senate GOP.

Sen. Serf Maltese, on whose behalf Bloomberg recorded a robocall and made a Halloween night appearance, has conceded to Democrat Joe Addabbo, who already delivered his victory speech in Queens.

During the call, Maltese said the results were “not as he expected, but he congratulated the councilman on his victory,” said Addabbo spokeswoman Alexis Grenell, who added: “The Councilman is humbled and honored and ready to get to work on behalf of New Yorkers.”

Liz Feld, whom Bloomberg endorsed (his visage was prominently featured on her campaign mailers), failed to defeat her target, Democratic Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer, in Westchester. (She has called and conceded the race, too).

At last report, another beneficiary of Bloomberg’s largesse and endorsement, GOP Sen. Frank Padavan, was locked in a tight battle with Democrat Jim Gennaro.

Bloomberg had better luck with his September primary picks – the first time during his mayoral tenure that he had injected himself into Democrat-on-Democrat contests.

Two of his two candidates succeeded at the polls, including Dan Squadron, who beat incumbent Sen. Marty Connor – a big win for the mayor, who had some of his friends contribute to the WFP to help pay for Squadron’s field operations.

Another Bloomberg primary winner was Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat, who fended off a challenge from Councilman Miguel Martinez.