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Democrats win control of Monroe County after decades of GOP control [13wham.com]:

Rochester, N.Y. (WHAM) — Democrats in Monroe County celebrated sweeping victories on election night this year. [13wham.com]

Adam Bello, a Democrat, was re-elected [13wham.com] to the office of Monroe County executive, defeating Mark Assini, a Republican, with 61% of the vote, according to unofficial election results.

Democrats were also able to win majority of the Monroe County Legislature by electing 16 Democrats compared to 13 Republicans.

ELECTION RESULTS [13wham.com]

"Democrats turned out to vote," said Stephen DeVay, Chairman of the Monroe County Democratic Committee. "They had a reason to turn out to vote. They had exciting candidates running in those races, and our democratic base turned up."

The strong support for Democrats extended to suburbs like Irondequoit, where Andrae Evans beat the incumbent, Republican Rory Fitzpatrick, for the role of town supervisor.

"Stunned, pretty excited, (but) pretty stunning," Evans said on election night. "I worked for it, but this is kind of unexpected."

Notably, Evans is believed to be the first ever Black town supervisor elected in the county [13wham.com].

Now, Democrats are looking to keep up the momentum. The party's chairman credited an organized campaign strategy for the wins.

"This is probably the first year we have seen this level of coordination at the local level, building upon what we have done in previous years, and it worked real well," DeVay said.

Meanwhile, Republicans look to regroup after dealing with some unexpected losses.

"Mark Assini was always the underdog for county executive, but we believed we would retain the majority in the county legislature," said Patrick Reilly, chairman of the Monroe County Republican Committee. "To do that, we needed to pick up a seat. Instead, we lost a seat."

Reilly became chairman of the committee just weeks ago, and said the party will need to focus on rebranding. He also admitted to division within the party, and said they will need to find common ground.

"I think what is incumbent on us and we can do well, is really to sit down and develop a platform for the Monroe County Republican party, and in doing so, find the areas of agreement within the party," Reilly said. "If we do that, those will be areas we also find a lot of agreement with Democrats and non-party affiliated voters."

Greece Town Supervisor Bill Reilich was the Monroe County GOP chair from 2008-2019, when Republicans held a majority of the power. He said he ran more than 1,000 races, with a 93 percent success rate.

"They have to stop fighting amongst themselves," Reilich said. "They have to appreciate everyone who is willing to put forth the time to support their candidates and their core values, and I think that will go a long way in starting to rebuild the party."

Reilly said encouraging people to practice their civic duty will also be a priority going forward.

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Original Submission