Nicole Malliotakis wins NY House seat from Max Rose

At the end of what has been described as a difficult knock-down drag-out race, Nicole Malliotakis has declared victory over her opponent, Democrat Representative Max Rose.

The 11th NY State Congressional District seat's election was called with 87 percent of precincts reporting in, and Malliotakis having a commanding 58 percent to 41 percent lead at that point.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the victory is considered a bit of an upset, with Malliotakis perhaps being able to surge ahead by taking a strong law-and-order stance, in response to deteriorating conditions in the outer boroughs that she sought to represent.

The message seemed to resonate with the more conservative Staten Island voters, which allowed Malliotakis to break out of a statistical dead heat with her incumbent opponent.

Both candidates were famous for taking pot shots at current NYC mayor Bill de Blasio, who is very unpopular with residents of the 11th District. Rose went out of his way to represent himself as a moderate Democrat and distance himself from some of the more far-left elements of his own party.

Surprisingly, Rose outspent his victorious opponent by more than double, spending $8 million compared to Malliotakis's $3 million.

The race was not only close, it was acrimonious at some points. The parties agreed to a debate, which culminated in shouting matches and microphones being muted.

Issues the two candidates butted heads on included civil rights and possible reform of the NYPD, in the light of the many and sometimes violent protests that took place in NYC over the summer.