Republican Joe Sempolinski has been heralded as the projected winner in the special election for New York’s 23rd congressional district. With 97 percent reporting as of this writing, Sempolinski currently leads Democrat Max Della Pia by nearly 5,000 votes — 53.2 percent versus 46.7 percent. Though the district has been deemed a solid red one, election watcher Dave Wasserman said that the final margins will determine if the Republican Party had made gains or losses in the district.