Senator Jim Gaughran declared victory on Wednesday in his re-election bid for the 5th New York State Senate District seat. 

"The last time a Democrat held this seat [before Gaughran], Harry Truman was President," Senator Gaughran said during a press event on Long Island. 

"I am humbled to be re-elected by the residents of the 5th Senate District and I thank them for their support. I will keep fighting for my constituents, for Long Island, and for all of New York State, and I thank the voters for giving me the opportunity to continue to serve them."

His Republican opponent Edmund Smyth has now conceded and issued a statement saying, "I congratulate Senator Gaughran on his re-election. He has my unbargained-for support."

Senator Gaughran originally trailed by more than 13,000 votes on election night, but absentee ballots put him over the top this week. 

State Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs again praised a race that to some looked bleak on Election Night. 

"I want to remind everybody that on Election Night, it didn’t look so good," Jacobs said. "There were people on the other side of the aisle taking all sorts of credit and being all excited about what they thought was going to be the outcome. And I said, ‘Don’t count your chickens, because we’ve got a lot of absentee ballots.’ Well now those absentee ballots have come home to roost."

Democrat Jeremy Cooney also declared victory on Wednesday in his race for the 56th NYS Senate District seat. This seat is currently held by retiring Senator Joe Robach. 

In a statement, Cooney thanked his Republican opponent Mike Barry and said, "With absentee ballots now counted in Monroe County, our campaign has significantly increased its lead to over 14,000 votes. I look forward to bringing Rochester’s priorities to the Senate Democratic Majority, where I will work tirelessly to create more upstate jobs, fully fund our schools, and lower healthcare costs for seniors and families." 

Cooney will also be making history as the first Asian-American elected to state office from Upstate New York. 

Additionally, later on Wednesday, sources expect that Democratic Senator Andrew Gounardes will announce that he has won re-election for his Brooklyn seat. 

On Tuesday night, Gounardes had picked up about 5,000 votes and was trailing by about 300 votes. There were 7,000 ballots left to be counted in the race with Republican Vito Bruno. That is expected to be completed on Wednesday.