Photo by Dennis Phillips Left, sixth-grade student Ben Cornell helping Andy Goodell with his victory speech. Goodell was re-elected to the state Assembly with 74 percent of the votes.

Voters in Chautauqua County have reconfirmed their commitment in Andy Goodell, R-Jamestown, by re-electing him to represent them in Albany.

On Tuesday, Goodell won his re-election bid against challenger Jason Perdue for the 150th New York State Assembly district seat. Goodell won with 74 percent of the votes, according to the unofficial results posted by the Chautauqua County Board of Elections. Goodell had 34,994 votes while Perdue had 12,193. Goodell ran on the Republican, Conserva-tive and Independence party lines. Perdue ran on the Democratic, Working Families and Reform party lines.

Goodell thanked those who helped him in his re-election bid.

”It is the only way you can win,” he said about the support he received.

The Assemblyman also thanked the other members of the local and regional Republican ticket. He also thanked his opponent and the other Democratic candidates who ran for political office.

”I thought the other candidates did a quality job,” he said.

Goodell said he will continue to work on priorities like creating more jobs by helping to make the state a more business friendly environment. He said he will also work on welfare reform so people can leave welfare and become financially successful on their own. He added that he will continue to work to cut taxes, fight the heroin epidemic and strengthen schools.

Goodell said he received help with his victory speech Tuesday night. He said sixth-grade student Ben Cornell helped him draw up his speech outline. Goodell said Cornell suggested that he should thank those who voted for him and supported him and to also thank his opponent. Cornell also told the incumbent Goodell to promise the voters that he will do his best.

Perdue, a Brocton native, said he enjoyed getting his message across to voters in Chautauqua County.

”I think that our turnout wasn’t what we’d liked it to be, but I’m happy we got our message across to the 12,000 voters we did,” he said. ”We started our campaign with a clear message. We wanted to talk about issues that others didn’t talk about and offer solutions that may be hadn’t been talked about yet.”

This is the fourth time Goodell has won election to the Assembly. After longtime incumbent Democratic Assemblyman William Parment decided not to run for re-election, Goodell faced former Chautauqua County Legislator Nancy Barger. Goodell won the election against Barger with 53 percent of the vote.

In 2012, Goodell ran his first Assembly re-election against former Chautauqua County Legislator Dr. Rudy Mueller. Goodell defeated Mueller with 59 percent of the vote.

In 2014, Goodell was re-elected again, this time defeating Berrie Yochim with 72 percent of the vote.

Goodell represents the 150th Assembly District, which is numerically the last, and geographically the westernmost, of the 150 districts in the Assembly and, as of the 2012 redistricting, aligns with the boundaries of Chautauqua County.