Field of challengers to Rep. Faso growing
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Another Democrat has announced plans to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. John Faso in next year’s 19th Congressional District race.
Sue Sullivan, 52, said in a press release Wednesday that she’s running for Congress to put her experience in economic development, health care, environmental protection and small business to work for the MidHudson district.
“I’m proud to call the Hudson Valley home,” Sullivan wrote. “As a local hospital executive [with St. Luke’s Cornwall in Newburgh], not-for-profit director and small business owner, I’ve gotten things done throughout this region by listening and bringing people together, and I think Washington could use more of that.
“Congress is paralyzed by partisanship, and Congressman Faso won’t even meet with his constituents,” she added. “He just toes the party line, voting with President Trump 90 percent of the time, including the devastating ‘Trumpcare.’”
In a phone interview Wednesday, Sullivan said she hoped leadership in the U.S. Senate would put aside partisan politics to find ways to improve the Affordable Care Act rather than pursuing adoption of the House’s GOP’s American Health Care Act, which was narrowly adopted on May 4. She said she has good insurance under the Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare, but that the system needs improvements. Sullivan said the government needs to find ways to improve efficiency under the Affordable Care Act while also improving clinical outcomes.
Sullivan is a lifelong resident of the district who currently lives in Plattekill. She is president and chief executive officer of ISER Consulting, which works with business, nonprofit organizations and municipalities to secure funding related to job growth. She is the mother of two sons.
Faso, R-Kinderhook, is a former minority leader
of the state Assembly who was elected to his first twoyear term in the House last November.
Brian Flynn, who lives in the Greene County hamlet of Elka Park, also has announced plans to challenge Faso. He is a progressive Democrat who has two children with his wife, Amy.
According to his website, Flynn is a small businessman and entrepreneur who has created hundreds of jobs across industry sectors over the last 25 years. As a private citizen, he has fought against terrorism since his brother was killed in Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie,
Scotland, in 1988, the site says.
Flynn has lived in the district for more than 10 years, but his connection to the area goes back generations. The Michael J. Quill Irish Cultural Center in East Durham is named after his great-uncle.
Earlier this month, Democrat Gareth Rhodes of Kerhonkson announced he had filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commissions as part of his consideration to run as a Democratic candidate against Faso.
Rhodes formerly served as an aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and is on a leave of absence from Harvard Law School.
Also considering a run is Jeffrey Beals, 40, a high school history teacher who lives in Woodstock with
his wife and two sons. He is a former U.S. diplomat who was decorated by the U.S. Army and the State Department for his service in Iraq, where he mediated the drafting of the country’s constitution.
Beals, who said he is a Democratic activist and a member of the Woodstock Democratic Committee, plans to formally announce his campaign soon.
Antonio Delgado also has announced he is considering running for the 19th District seat. On his website, Delgado said
that, like many people in the Hudson Valley and the Catskills, he is deeply concerned about what is going on in Washington.
Delgado said he and his wife, Lacey, were raised to believe that with success comes responsibility and that the American Dream should be an attainable dream.
New York’s 19th Congressional District comprises all of Ulster, Greene and Columbia counties, most of Dutchess County and some or all of seven other counties.