Calore trails Giacomazza as recount approaches
Woodbury mayoral race remains undecided; Giacomazza leads by 107 votes, recount set for Dec. 4.
Pictured Above: A future Woodbury residents no longer have to fear if the current vote totals hold on Dec. 4.
Woodbury residents will have to wait a little longer to learn who their next village mayor will be.
A final tally of the Nov. 4, 2025, race showed incumbent Andrew Giacomazza ahead by 107 votes. A recount is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 4, before results can be certified by the Orange County Board of Elections.
Giacomazza ran on the We the People of Woodbury ballot line. He is also a Republican. Challenger Brandon Calore is a Republican as well. Calore had support from state Sen. James G. Skoufis’ Protect Monroe‑Woodbury independent expenditure committee and the Woodbury Democratic Committee. Calore also appeared on the Working4Woodbury line. An independent expenditure committee is the New York State equivalent of a super PAC, an entity that can spend an unlimited amount of money with few restrictions. Sen. Skoufis did not return requests for comment from The Monroe Gazette when asked why he spent $19,600 — if not more — supporting a pro‑Trump MAGA candidate.
The We the People of Woodbury line was born from a community effort that led the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to name Woodbury the lead agency over Kiryas Joel and the town of Palm Tree regarding the former ACE Farms property. Residents raised concerns to the DEC about the true owner of the property being the village of Kiryas Joel, which could not impartially decide on annexation of the property into its borders.
In the June 25 Republican primary, Calore beat Giacomazza by fewer than 100 votes. Giacomazza alleges irregularities and says he saw video he contends shows Pinchus Glauber directing Satmar voters in a polling‑place parking lot. Calore received support from the United Jewish Community in Woodbury, led by Mordechai Kellner, which has links to the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove, based in South Blooming Grove. Calore also works for a company known as CIOFFI, which is being sued by Orange County over potentially illegal work done on county property at the behest of a United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove representative and un‑elected South Blooming Grove mayor Joel Stern.
Glauber, Calore and the Woodbury Police Department declined to comment when asked about Glauber’s behavior at the polling location. New York Election Law § 17‑13 bars electioneering within 100 feet of a polling place.
Glauber and his wife, Hindy, donated $455.15 to Calore between Jan. 1 and July 7, 2025, making them the largest individual nonfamily donors listed in Calore’s filings. As of the most recent reports, Calore had not filed campaign finance reports after July 7. The deadline for the general election filing was Dec. 1.
The Nov. 4 final totals are: Giacomazza (We the People), 1,426; Calore, 1,319 (94 on Working4Woodbury); blank votes, 327; ballots not counted, 4; write‑ins, 7. Names of write‑in recipients have not been released.
If certified, Giacomazza’s next term will run two years, ending in 2027. A 2023 law moved most local elections to even‑numbered years. The state Court of Appeals upheld that law in October 2025.
Woodbury held its first village election in November 2006. The village’s first mayor was Stephanie Berean‑Weeks.