Rep. George Latimer will return to Congress after the Associated Press projected him the winner in New York's 16th Congressional District on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Latimer, a Rye Democrat, defeated Republican Joe Cinquemani to secure a second term, Patch reported. The AP call came at 10:32 p.m., according to News 12 Westchester.

Official vote totals were not yet available as of the morning of Nov. 4. Ballot scanner failures across Westchester County on Election Day forced poll workers to place completed ballots in orange emergency bags instead of feeding them through machines, as we reported Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Democrats and Republicans agreed to a court-supervised process to count those unscanned ballots, News 12 reported. Police transported the secured ballots from polling sites to the Westchester County Board of Elections facility in Ardsley.

Neither Latimer nor Cinquemani had issued a public statement in the available record as of the morning of Nov. 4.

Latimer's path to a second term

Latimer, who was born in Mount Vernon, won his first term in 2024 after challenging then-Rep. Jamaal Bowman in the Democratic primary. That contest was at the time the most expensive House primary in U.S. history, according to Patch. Latimer received endorsements from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Rep. Eliot Engel.

He defeated Bowman in the primary and went on to beat Republican Miriam Flisser in the 2024 general election.

In Congress, Latimer serves on the House Committee on Small Business, according to his congressional office. Federal Election Commission records show his 2026 campaign reported about $682,000 in total receipts and roughly $741,000 in total disbursements.

Ballot counting continues

The Westchester County Board of Elections acknowledged the scanner problems on Election Day and said it was working with state officials and county government to address the issue. The board said ballots placed in the orange bags would remain secure and be counted under applicable election procedures.

A consent decree from New York State Supreme Court Justice Paul Marx established procedures for handling the affected ballots, according to a statement carried by News 12. Counting of those ballots at the Ardsley facility was set to begin at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4, under bipartisan oversight.