Mootooveren, Porterfield hold council seats
Zalewski-wildzunas ousted by Farley in Schenectady panel race
It was a good night for Schenectady City Council incumbents — mostly.
Of the three lawmakers seeking to retain their seats, Council President John Mootooveren and Councilwoman Marion Porterfield, both Democrats, are poised to be reelected to fouryear terms, garnering 3,226 and 3,117 votes, respectively, with 100 percent of election districts reporting Tuesday.
Newcomer Damonni Farley clocked in third place for the remaining four-year term, garnering 2,959 votes, ousting Councilwoman Karen Zalewskiwildzunas, who trailed in fifth place with 2,057 votes in the six-way contest.
Republican Kevin M. Hammer came in fourth, logging 2,186 votes.
Newcomers Carl Williams and Doreen Ditoro, both Democrats, were elected to the vacant seats for two-year terms, clocking in 3,077 and 2,764 votes, respectively.
Vivian A. Parsons, a Republican, received 2,106 votes for a third-place finish. Candidates Thearse Mccalmon, running on the Working Families Party line, came in fourth with 939 votes. It’s unlikely absentee ballots will change the outcomes: 940 absentee ballots were issued, 439 of those were received by Monday evening, according to the county Board of Elections. Democrats gathered at the Ancient Order of the Hibernians on Tuesday.
If the counts hold, their victories will restore the City Council to its full seven-member capacity since the resignations of council members Ed Kosiur and Leesa Perazzo nearly a year ago.
Diversity, too, was a winner. Four of the winning candidates were people of color, the most diverse field ever endorsed by a Democratic Committee that was initially criticized as being sluggish to embrace change.
The results will not change the partisan control of the board: In a city where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly 4-to-1, it wasn’t so much a question of if Democrats would retain control, but rather if a Republican or minor party candidate would peel off a seat.ditoro and Williams, eligible to be seated once the votes are certified and Mootooveren calls a vote, will have to defend their seats in 2023.
In the open contest to replace outgoing Schenectady County Legislator Margaret “Peggy” King for the open District 1 seat, Omar Sterling Mcgill, a Democrat, defeated Brendan Savage, garnering 1,448 votes to Savage’s 1,065.
Mcgill becomes the first African American legislator elected to the 15-member body (Deputy Majority Leader Philip Fields, who was also reelected in an uncontested race, is of Guyanese descent).