Faust set to primary Sheehan
Albany council to have nine races for the Democratic line
The Democratic mayoral primary is down to two candidates, but two writeins are still running. Common Council candidates have popped up to challenge incumbents. Several races are in court. Welcome to city election season. Just a few months ago, the electoral picture looked much quieter. Mayor Kathy Sheehan didn’t have an established Democratic opponent. The 6th Ward council race, with five declared candidates, appeared to be the most highly contested in the city and no opponents had plans publicly yet to take on incumbent council members. That has changed.
The only two Democrats on the ballot for mayor on June 22 will be Mayor Kathy Sheehan and the Rev. Valerie Faust. Faust’s campaign successfully challenged the petitions submitted by activists Marlon Anderson and Lukee Forbes.
Forbes did not respond to a message seeking comment but previously said he would run as a write-in candidate for the general election.
Anderson said he’s still running as a write-in candidate for the Democratic line. He criticized Faust’s campaign for challenging his petitions and then asking him to assist with her campaign to beat Sheehan. Anderson shared messages from the Faust campaign alerting him that he had been knocked off the ballot before he received official notification from the Albany County Board of Elections and urging him to realize that defeating Sheehan was the main goal.
“Elections should be decided by the vote of the people and the public records of the candidates running for the office, not in the offices of the BOE or by political operatives manipulating archaic rules, to suppress the vote and will of the people,” Anderson said.
Faust’s campaign is being run by two Democratic operatives who have butted heads with Sheehan’s administration before — former city councilman Judd Krasher and Anthony Catalano, Jr.
In an email, Krasher said Faust’s campaign believed members of Sheehan’s campaign were quietly trying to help Anderson get on the ballot in order to split the votes against Sheehan. They reached out to Anderson to test that theory, he said.
“Mr. Anderson’s doubling down on his vitriol against Rev. Faust further solidified the theory,” Krasher wrote in an email.
Council rivalries aplenty
The council, which has five members stepping down after this year, has nine Democratic primaries as of Wednesday.
Two of those are in court over challenges to petitions. In the 11th Ward, Councilman Alfredo Balarin is challenging Luis Williams’ petitions. Balarin said his campaign took Williams to court claiming that when he recently renewed his license, it matched his childhood home in Rensselaer County. Williams later updated that address on file with the county board of elections in March to match the one he used to gather petitions.
Under the city charter, residents must live in the city for a year before running for office.
Williams, who owns Celebrity Barbershop on Central Avenue, said he hadn’t lived at that Rensselaer County address since he was a teen and has lived above his shop for more than a decade. Williams’ campaign also pointed to his continuous voting record in Albany since 2004.
Over in the 14th Ward, which is an open race due to Joseph Igoe’s retirement, Celia Evers is challenging the petitions of Deborah Zamer in court.
Evers’ campaign believes Zamer modified her petitions after she went to submit them to Albany County Board of Elections.
Evers’ attorney is former congressman John Sweeney, who assisted former president Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Evers declined to comment before a hearing on the matter Thursday. Zamer’s campaign called Evers’ decision to hire Sweeney and try to throw out Zamer’s petitions “intimidation tactics.”
“Using Trump-lawyer John Sweeney to sue me and the 486 voters who signed my nominating petitions, to silence us, is the worst of Albany machine politics. My Democratic opponent has given her blessing to GOP voter suppression tactics, so she doesn’t have to face me or the voters,” Zamer said in a statement.
Also running for an open seat is former county legislator Brian Scavo, who was convicted in 2015 of two counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument. Scavo is running in the 7th Ward against Violetta De Rosa and Sergio Adams. Scavo did not return a call for comment. He waged a losing campaign for a legislature seat in 2019.
The other Democratic primaries for open seats are the 6th Ward, where there is a contest among Jeff Mayo, Susan Pedo and Gabriella Romero, and the 9th Ward, where the race is between Jolyn Gallagher and Meghan Keegan.
A number of challengers to incumbents have popped up as well, helped in part by the lowered number of signatures needed to get on the ballot.
In the 1st Ward, Sonia Frederick, who was appointed to the seat in 2020 and won a special election to finish the term, faces Scott Mannarino. In the 2nd Ward, Councilman Derek Johnson is challenged by Lovett Branch.
In the 3rd Ward, Councilwoman Joyce Love is being challenged by James Davis and Stephen Negron. In the 5th Ward, Councilman Jahmel Robinson faces a challenge from Wilbur “Decky” Lawson.