Primaries: Local Contests Go Unopposed Amid Statewide Surprises

While the national narrative on last night's primaries centered around Tea Party candidates rocking the political establishment, the lines for November's local races have already been drawn in the sand.

All six major party candidates in the three local races went unopposed Tuesday night, leaving the upsets and surprises for the statewide and congressional races.

This November, Port Chester residents will choose their representatives for congress, the state senate and the assembly. But none of those candidates – from Democrat Nita Lowey and Republican challenger Jim Russell, to incumbent Assemblyman George Latimer and his Republican opponent, Bill Reed – faced opposition from within their own parties on primary night.

Last night's biggest news for local voters was the emergence of Tea Party-backed gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino, who trounced former congressman – and Hillary Clinton senate opponent – Rick Lazio. A trail of ill-advised comments and news that he likes to forward porn and racist jokes via e-mail didn't seem to hurt Paladino, who sparred with Lazio in a battle over who could appear more outraged over Park 51, otherwise known as the "Ground Zero Mosque."

Both candidates increasingly focused on each other instead of their common opponent, and now Paladino will face Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. The most recent polls show Cuomo leading Paladino by a two to one margin.

The second surprise for New Yorkers came when embattled Rep. Charlie Rangel fended off five challengers in the Democratic primary for New York's 15th congressional district.

Rangel, who's facing charges of ethical lapses, tax-evasion and nepotism – like paying a company owned by his son $80,000 to create simple HTML pages – was ecstatic Tuesday night.

Rangel's district, which includes Harlem, is all but guaranteed to grant him another term – voters in the district have voted for Democrats in presidential races by an average of 90 percent over the past three election cycles, and Rangel himself has been elected with more than 90 percent of the vote in seven of his last eight successful bids for congress.