With 56 percent of the precincts reporting, the Republican incumbent in Westchester, Rob Astorino, was leading his Democratic challenger, Noam Bramson, by 53,136 votes, or 54.9 percent, to 43,670 votes, or 45.1 percent. Mr. Bramson conceded defeat at 10:30.
In Nassau County, with 89 percent of the election districts reporting, Mr. Mangano, the incumbent, held a lead of 140,884 votes, or 59.1 percent, to 97,344 votes, or 40.9 percent for Thomas R. Suozzi, a former county executive there. Mr. Suozzi conceded around 11 p.m., and told a television interviewer minutes later: “Their message was better and simpler to understand. It was about taxes, and they won.”
In a third suburban county, Rockland, which is facing a $ 128 million budget deficit, Ed Day, 62, a Brooklyn-bred former police detective and Republican county legislator, defeated David Fried, 34, a locally raised lawyer and former county legislator who has worked as a volunteer campaign aide to Bill Clinton. Mr. Day will replace C. Scott Vanderhoef, a Republican, who has served as county executive for almost 20 years. With just about all of the vote counted, Mr. Day had 36,542 votes, or 51.9 percent, to 32,311, or 45.9 percent, for Mr. Fried. Democrats hold a sizable edge in registration in both Westchester and Nassau Counties, but in the malaise of the 2009 economy and the Tea Party-inspired revolt against taxes, many Democrats stayed home, and both Mr. Mangano and Mr. Astorino edged out victories. This time strategists for Mr. Suozzi and Mr. Bramson were hoping for a heavy turnout that could throw the elections to their candidates.
“We’re pleased with what we see,” Michael Florio, a spokesman for the Suozzi campaign, said late Tuesday afternoon. “The turnout looks to be better than in ’09. If the vote comes in at the 250,000 range, it’s difficult for Suozzi. Anything around 270,000-280,000 looks better for him.”
The fact that Mr. Mangano, a 51-year-old lawyer with a Long Island accent, refused to distance himself from Tea Party positions on abortion, immigration and gun control were expected by Suozzi forces to stimulate more voting by Jewish, African-American and Hispanic Democrats and independents.
Gun control was a surprisingly resonant issue in Westchester, where Mr. Bramson, 43, the Harvard-educated mayor of New Rochelle, hammered home Mr. Astorino’s resumption of gun shows at the county cultural center after a 10-year hiatus. That struck a nerve with voters like Mady Edelstein, a retired lawyer, as she cast her ballot at the Chatsworth Avenue School in Larchmont.
“Bringing gun shows to the county center is deplorable,” she said. “You pick up the paper every day and someone mentally disturbed or sufficiently angry is picking up a gun and has the capacity to wreak havoc.”
But Mr. Astorino, a 46-year-old former radio host, resisted that depiction, projecting himself as a pragmatic Republican, out of step with the national party on many issues. He stressed his record in creating jobs while not boosting the county’s share of a resident’s property tax bill.
“I was impressed with Astorino, what he’s got to say regarding safety and jobs, that we need more people who are skilled,” said Ethan Heller, a retired event planner, as he voted at the Chatsworth School.
Key to Mr. Astorino’s chances was a large turnout in Yonkers, where working-class Democrats have a habit of voting conservatively and supporting Republicans. But Barry Caro, a spokesman for Mr. Bramson, said in the afternoon that overall turnout was high, which he said “bodes well” for Mr. Bramson.
In Nassau, Mr. Suozzi, a 51-year-old lawyer who was county executive from 2002 to 2009, and who hungered for a rematch after losing to Mr. Mangano by 386 votes, emphasized what he said was Nassau’s decline. His message was that it was bad fiscal management by Republicans that had put the county under a state-appointed control board.
One of the chief remedies he proposed was to expand the tax base by enlivening downtowns near railroad stations with office buildings and restaurants and shops, that would entice young people, and keep them from moving to the city. He spent much of Tuesday afternoon at Penn Station, shaking hands with commuters as they headed home on the Long Island Rail Road.
Mr. Mangano portrayed Mr. Suozzi as addicted to tax increases, and trumpeted his own record at paring the county work force to 7,300 from over 9,100 in 2009, while creating more than 15,000 private-sector jobs, and keeping the county’s unemployment rate at a low 5.8 percent.
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