By Kayla Santoro

Morrisville State College

 MILFORD – Republican state Sen. James L. Seward easily turned back a challenge from Democrat Don Barber to retain the 51st state Senate District seat, doing his part to help keep control of the Senate in GOP hands.

Seward, an 11-term veteran of the Senate, received 64,818 votes to keep the seat in the Republican column. Barber, the supervisor of the Tompkins County town of Caroline, polled 34,373, with approximately 99 percent of the districts reporting, according to complete but unofficial results provided by the boards of elections in the seven counties that are covered by the district.

“ I am so pleased that the people of the district recognized my vision of change for the future,” Seward said, crediting a “grassroots effort” for enabling him to carve out the win.

Seward said he was particularly pleased with the results from Tompkins County – Barber’s home county. Although Barber tallied 2,591 votes to Seward’s 2,429, the margin of victory was far less than might have been expected from a candidate’s home base.