If you look at the overall countywide voter registration, while the older, more established residents are solidly Republican in their voting behavior, the younger generations and recent transplants are trending more Democratic and independent. (In fact, since January 2006, the number of new Democratic registrations has outpaced Republican registrants in Saratoga County) How will this play out over the next decade as many of these older conservative folks start to die off, and are slowly replaced by a more liberal electorate?

Saratoga County Voter Registration Data from Voter Contact Services -

Registered Prior to 1990 -
Democratic - 7,961 (21.28%)
Republican - 22,140 (59.19%)
Other - 7,304 (19.53%)

Registered Prior to 2002 -
Democratic - 9,543 (29.14%)
Republican - 10,887 (33.25%)
Other - 12,317 (37.61%)

Registered Prior to 2006 -
Democratic - 2,886 (32.29%)
Republican - 2,641 (29.55%)
Other - 3,411 (38.16%)

Statewide (and across the Northeast), the old suburban Republican machines are crumbling, in great part due to the party's increasingly southern, anti-intellectual ideological tilt. Over the past decade, the Democrats have taken the county legislatures in Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester. The Dutchess legislature and the Colonie Town Board just flipped to the Dems the other night. Saratoga County is one of the few suburban areas of the state where the GOP infrastructure still remains largely in tact. But continuing demographic changes, including a continued influx of people from Albany County and downstate will certainly help to shift the balance of power in Saratoga over the next 10 to 15 years. This is perhaps why in The Town of Ballston, where no Democrat has held elected office since the 1970s, one of the co-chairs of the local DFA chapter was just elected Town Supervisor. Another DFA-backed candidate also won the Supervisor's post in Moreau. If the progressives are supposedly vanishing from the Saratoga political scene, as some are suggesting, then why are progressive Democrats now winning in towns which haven't voted for Democrats on the local level since the 1970s? Why can't these conservative blogs seem to answer this question?

All in all, Tuesday's Democratic losses in Saratoga Springs were most likely the result of the infighting between Mayor Valerie Keehn and Public Works Commissioner Thomas McTygue, not an ideological shift in local politics or a mandate for conservative policies. The new Mayor-elect, Republican Scott Johnson won by a plurality, not a majority. When the returns came in last Tuesday, the two Democrats, Valerie Keehn and Gordon Boyd still received more votes combined that did the Republican. In the race for the open Finance Commissioner's spot, GOP businessman Ken Ivins, arguably more qualified for the poition, only defeated Democrat Jane Weihe, a retired schoolteacher, by two points. Can you only picture what would have happened if the Democrats had nominated a more qualified candidate? And the righties continue to blather on about some kind of mandate?