MOULE: Henrietta turns blue

By Jeremy Moule on October 22, 2008

Henrietta has crossed the blue line: the majority of its registered voters are now Democratic.

So says data released this week from the Monroe County Board of Elections. It shows four suburbs that now have a Democratic majority. There's Brighton and Irondequoit, which were already Democratic. And there's Gates, which also tipped Democratic this year - a trend town leaders have expected for some time.

Henrietta's got 21,958 voters. Of them, 7,756 are Democrats and 7,454 are Republicans. But the town is still no Brighton or Rochester. It's not even Irondequoit, where Democrats have a 1,700-voter edge. In all three, Democrats have a lock on government.

And it's not a Gates. Sure, Democrats in that town hold the majority by a thin 400-vote margin, but there is a Democrat who holds a Town Board seat.

In Henrietta, all elected offices are held by Republicans. The town Democratic committee hasn't been as high-profile as committees in other communities.

The long-term impact of a Democratic enrollment edge in Henrietta remains to be seen. The first test of the new numbers will happen on November 4, when voters get a chance to pull the lever for either incumbent Town Board member Jack Moore, a Republican, or his Democratic challenger, Craig Bond.

Of course, if Henrietta residents are happy with the way their town is being run, and there are indications that they are, then they may just keep the status quo, regardless of party. And when the Democratic-Republican split is as close as it is in Henrietta, it's the voters who aren't enrolled in a party who make all the difference, anyway.