Bramson Over Tocci in Democratic Primary

by Judy Silberstein

( September 10, 2002) Palmer's Crossing, the Larchmont eatery downstairs from Bramson campaign headquarters, was packed with local Democratic celebrities, officials, party leaders, Bramson family and supporters from throughout the Assembly district. Even with the polls closed at 9pm, the results were slow to come in, and the candidate and his campaign managers remained upstairs tallying the results as “runners” from each of the polling districts appeared with wrinkled slips of papers.

Noam Bramson and wife Catie Stern are counting the days (56, to be precise) until the end of the Assembly race and the beginning of their honeymoon.

Finally the candidate appeared, to loud cheers of No-am, No-am, No-am! Still no official announcement, but the jubilant look told all. It would take many more hours for the official tally, but with more than 88% of precincts reporting, Bramson’s victory was clear. At his own gathering in New Rochelle, Ron Tocci conceded defeat as the unofficial tally showed him with 1,916 votes to Bramson’s 3,300. (See Tocci Headquarters)

Congresswoman Nita Lowy appeared at Bramson’s side throughout his victory speech. Her picture featured prominently in much of the Bramson campaign literature, but she had made commitments not to announce an official endorsement in the primary race. At this point, she is free of any such commitment and tonight endorsed Bramson openly. When asked what she would do without Bramson, who has worked with her for ten years, Lowey said confidently, “Noam and I will work together as colleagues.”

With his victory in the Democratic Primary, Noam Bramson has won the right to a rematch with Ron Tocci who will be running on a number of other party lines, including the Republican Party, in the November election. With an eye towards the next step, Bramson was already reaching out to voters from beyond the Democratic Party when he said, “Tonight we say to all our neighbors, of every political party, believe again that we can do great things.”

Bramson is predicting another eight weeks of tremendously hard work. His victory speech foreshadowed the themes he will again be stressing: new energy, education, environmental protection, women’s right to choose, and equal opportunity.

This was a hard won victory, acknowledged Bramson. He told his supporters, “They said an upset of this scale would take nothing short of a political earthquake. My friends,” he added, “Tonight, all across the Sound Shore, the ground is shaking!”

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