‘A different direction’: Local party leaders reflect on NY-23 results and national shifts

While Democrats saw a historic election night, Republicans like Nick Langworthy retained their seats for another term. Now, both sides are reflecting on the local race and the national implications moving forward.

Langworthy won reelection for New Yorks 23rd Congressional District against Democratic challenger Aaron Gies. Langworthy was first elected to Congress in 2022 and previously served as chairman of the New York State Republican Committee.

With 97% of the votes reported, Langworthy secured 60.26% of the vote, over Gies' 39.69%. However, while the RepublicaN incumbents victory was still by a large percentage of the vote, Gies was able to chip away 26,500 votes from Langworthy's 2022 re-election bid.

"We cut Nick Langworthy's margin way down. And we showed folks that there is a better way to do things, and I'm proud of that," Aaron Gies told WKBW on Wednesday. "It was obviously disappointing to lose our race, but last night was a party because of the overwhelming result nationwide."

Democrats secured control of the Senate after pulling off surprise victories in traditionally Republican strongholds, including Texas and Kansas. Combined with their victory in the House, the results mark a major shift in power in Washington.

"The one that has surprised me the most so far was Dr. Annie Andrews' victory in South Carolina. I lived in South Carolina for years, and I never thought that was possible," Gies said.

In South Carolina, the president backed Sen. Darline Graham, who entered the race following the death of her brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham.

"You are likely gonna see a lot of the Republican leadership blame the president. So if there's a lot of infighting in the Republican Party and maybe to put that in a positive way, a lot of soul searching, then we could see some gridlock break and Republicans join with Democrats to really try to save our economy and save us from this war, which could escalate out of control, and I'm hopeful for that," Gies said.

On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance blamed the war in Iran for the Republican defeats, saying Trump reached a similar conclusion. As for Republicans here at home, whos responsible is a bit more complicated.

"Obviously that's gonna be where the blame is gonna be," Mark Proctor, Chairman of the Chautauqua County Republican Committee, told WKBW. "I think just people weren't happy with the way things are at the moment as far as, again, the price of gas and all of that."

When asked how Langworthy and other Republicans who retained their seat would handle the shift in power moving forward, Proctor expects little change. "I don't see his path going forward changing very much. I think he (Langworthy) does work with Democrats pretty well. I know that he's been a part of a lot of bipartisan bills. So I think he will continue to work with Democrats and for what's best for our part of the world in Western New York and the Southern Tier."

WKBW attempted to speak with Congressman Langworthy on Wednesday, but he was unavailable. On Election Night, Langworthy did speak with 7 News Reporter Jiovanni Lieggi.

"We certainly won't control the floor anymore, but the issues that I fight for lower taxes, more personal responsibility, lower regulations, energy freedom for people in this region- those will all be things I continue to fight for," Langworthy said on Tuesday. "And we'll look for opportunities for bipartisan wins; we're working with people that represent common sense across the aisle, getting things done for people. That's why I ran for Congress in the first place."

Langworthy added, "I'm not sure what the priorities of the Democratic leadership will be and what solutions they'll present. I hope we don't have economic whiplash, where they try to immediately do the wrong thing, which is raise taxes and do things that will be harmful to the economy because there's a whole lot of the economy that's strong. Prices are nagging. They're high. They've been high since COVID. It's something that we have to work on, but politicians don't set prices, and they shouldn't promise that they're going to lower them either."

According to an AP Voter Poll conducted prior to Tuesday's results, about 4 in 10 say the economy is the most important issue facing the country, while 3 in 10 say the most important issue is democracy, well above the number who said the same about crime, healthcare and immigration.

"There was a lot of anger at prices at the gas store or at the gas stations and the grocery stores, which is why we thought we would be doing better, but the people, I guess, just didn't decide that way," Chautauqua County Democratic Committee Chairperson Marcia Westling Johnson told WKBW. "It was a disappointing evening for us, locally, but I feel there's a different direction. People feel lighter this morning."

WATCH: A different direction: Local party leaders reflect on NY-23 results and national shifts

"The country showed that they are tired of the corruption in Washington. And the administration who spends all their effort on making themselves richer and that message will come locally people, we have a good team and we're working on expanding it and hope that at the next election we'll do better," Johnson said.