Riverdale’s incumbents sail to victory

Updated on Thursday.

All of the northwest Bronx’s federal and state officials up for reelection this year cruised to victory Tuesday night, according to unofficial results from the Board of Elections in the City of New York.

The only remaining question after the ballot was whether state Sen. Jeff Klein, whose 34th district includes Riverdale, would remain co-leader of the Senate. Senate Republicans won an outright majority of the body, threatening Mr. Klein’s campaign promise to form a coalition between his group of five total breakaway Democrats and the Democratic Conference. Spokesmen for Mr. Klein did not immediately answer an interview request.

The senator won about 86 percent of the vote to trounce his little-known Republican, Green and Conservative challengers.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz performed a similar feat, winning about 90 percent of the vote against his Conservative Party opponent.

Rep. Eliot Engel, who represents a wide swath of the Bronx and Westchester, won election to a 14th term without facing any challenger. Following a tough Democratic primary over the summer, Rep. Charles Rangel, who represents Upper Manhattan and part of the Bronx, won about 93 percent of the vote to handily defeat his Green Party challenger.

Bronx state Sen. Gustavo Rivera, who withstood a Democratic primary challenge from Councilman Fernando Cabrera, on Tuesday beat a handful of underdog challengers with 93 percent of the vote.

State Sen. Adriano Espaillat, who lost to Mr. Rangel in the July congressional primary, did not face any challengers as he held on to his seat, which covers part of Marble Hill.

Former Assemblyman Guillermo Linares successfully returned to the body as the replacement for Gabriela Rosa, who stepped down earlier this year as she admitted to having a previous fake marriage to gain citizenship. Mr. Linares won 90 percent of the vote against a Republican challenger in the race for the 72nd district, which includes Marble Hill.

With local incumbents expected to win by comfortable margins, many residents here cast their ballots Tuesday more from a sense of duty than ardor over any of the races.