NEW YORK (AP) - Republicans and Democrats in New York's congressional delegation traded blows Tuesday night, each taking a seat from the other party in hard-fought races.
A Democratic challenger won a rematch in a congressional race near Syracuse against the Republican incumbent who beat him in a close contest for the seat in 2010, while a Republican defeated the Democratic incumbent in the Buffalo area.
They were two of seven tightly contested races that had been called late Tuesday, with one other close race still undecided. Both national political parties had been looking to the New York races as they fought to see which party would have control in the House of Representatives, and millions of dollars had flowed into the state from super political action committees and other outside groups funding an avalanche of negative ads.
Democrat Dan Maffei was declared the winner over Republican incumbent Ann Marie Buerkle for the district near Syracuse. Buerkle had beaten him for the seat in 2010 by 648 votes.
Republican Chris Collins, the former Erie County executive, defeated incumbent Democrat Kathy Hochul, who won the Buffalo-area seat last year.
In other races, Republican Rep. Mike Grimm was declared the winner over Democratic challenger Mark Murphy for the district that covers Staten Island. In Queens, Democratic candidate Grace Meng was declared the winner over Republican Dan Halloran. She becomes the first Asian-American member of Congress from New York.
In another race that was a rematch of 2010, five-term incumbent Democratic Rep. Timothy Bishop defeated Republican businessman Randy Altschuler on eastern Long Island. Altschuler came within 593 votes of defeating Bishop two years ago.
In eastern New York, Republican freshman Rep. Chris Gibson beat back a challenge from Democrat Julian Schreibman, while in northern New York, Democratic Rep. Bill Owens once again defended his seat against Republican businessman Matt Doheny. Doheny narrowly lost to Owens in 2010 when a third-party candidate took some votes.
The race between incumbent Republican Nan Hayworth and former Bill Clinton aide Sean Patrick Maloney in the lower Hudson Valley still remained to be decided.
Money for ads had poured into the state from business interests, unions, PACs and other groups. The Sunlight Foundation, which calls for more government transparency, says total outside spending had gone above $18 million in the state.
New York lost two of its current 29 seats in the House - one Democratic and one Republican - to redistricting for the 2010 census population changes.
