We’ve seen the headlines and know that both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton won big in last week’s New York Presidential Primary. But what else was behind the numbers, especially when looking at vote totals across NY’s 22nd Congressional District?

I’ll share a few observations and what it means to me.

In our District, Trump garnered 32,823 of the 62,296 total votes cast (52.69%), followed by John Kasich at 17,607 votes (28.26%), and Ted Cruz with 11,866 votes (19.05%).

Trump’s margin of victory in our 8 counties was between 44% (Cortland) and 58% (Herkimer). It’s significant that he won a majority in every county.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton won big in New York State overall but got crushed in District 22 as Bernie Sanders captured 26,124 of the 46,645 total votes cast (56.01%) compared to Hillary’s 20,521 votes (43.99%).

Like Trump, Sanders won a solid majority in every one of District 22’s counties, in some cases with more than a 20 point margin of victory.

This is especially amazing when considering that Trump likely couldn’t find our district on a map and Hillary had what should have been an obvious advantage with personal visibility and local resources built through her service as our Senator for 9 years.

The primary process itself energizes the extreme elements of both parties, as those who are maddest turn out to vote and many others that are reasonably content stayed home on primary day thinking they’ll do their civic duty in November with the general election.

But even with that caveat, the takeaway for me personally is the clarity by which voters are expressing anger with the political establishment and desire for wholesale change.

I expect to see that sentiment carry right on through the June 28th Congressional primary and into the fall general election.

Running as an independent lets me chart my own course and stay true to my conviction of being outside the broken system to help lead the change we need.

But even with good ideas and collaborative approach to get results, my building name recognition across this 8 county region is no small task. We’re starting to get some coverage in the press – check out my 10-minute radio interview with Bill Keeler as a highlight piece this week.

I’ve also begun stepping up my one-on-one meetings with public officials and leaders in community organizations across the district to get a sense for local needs and concerns around the region. I’ll share some of those highlights next week.