GOP STILL IN CONTROL?
Republicans appear to keep Legislature majority, but outcome of two close races could shift power
Republicans appeared to keep their hold on the Ulster County Legislature following Tuesday’s election, but with too-close-to-call races in two districts, which party ultimately will lead the body remains up in the air.
Republicans emerged from Tuesday’s election with 11 of the body’s 23 seats firmly in their grasp and another within reach. Democrats are guaranteed 10 seats in the Legislature come January.
But it is the two races that will be decided when the absentee ballots are counted that will determine whether the GOP or the Democrats claim the majority.
Republicans emerged from Tuesday’s election with 11 of the body’s 23 seats firmly in their grasp and another within reach.
In District 1 (Saugerties), only 34 votes separate Republican incumbent Mary Wawro (1,138) and Democrat Michael MacIssac (1,104). According to the Ulster County Board of Election, 144 absentee ballots were issued in the district and 92 of those ballots have been returned.
Absentee ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 6 and received by the Board of Elections by Nov. 14 to be counted.
And in District 22 (Denning, Hardenburgh, Olive, Shandaken), incumbent John Parete held only a 20vote lead over Democratic challenger Kathy Nolan, the second highest votegetter in a three-way race. In that race, 305 absentee
ballots were issue, and 217 have been returned so far.
That there were such close races was not surprising in an election that had more than its fair share of unusual and hotly contested races.
Perhaps the most closely watched race was in District 7, where Republican Brian Woltman beat oneterm incumbent Democrat Jennifer Schwartz Berky, 1,030-811. Berky saw her re-election hopes fade after a police dash cam video of her emotional meltdown during a May 24 traffic stop was released and went viral just weeks before Election Day.
In the District 22 race, Parete — an incumbent Democrat who is the a former chairman of the county Democratic Committee and a former Legislature chairman who rose to that rank with Republican help — was relegated to the Independence and Conservative lines after losing primaries for both the Democratic and Republican lines. Despite that shunning, Parete, with 1,038 votes, was outpolling both Nolan, who garnered 1,018 votes, and Republican Cliff Faintych, who tallied 748.
And in District 16, Tracey Bartels, a nonenrolled voter who caucuses with the Democrats, defeated Republican Kathy Miller, 1,425-954, after Miller lost a court battle to be removed from the ballot. Miller, a postal worker who was forbidden under the federal Hatch Act to run for the seat, attempted to have her name removed after the deadline for declining party nominations had passed. If Miller had won the election, she would have been forced to decline the seat, and the incoming Legislature would have appointed someone in her stead.
The GOP picked up the Legislature’s District 2 seat, where Republican Joseph Maloney defeated Democratic incumbent Chris Allen, 1,186-1,101.
Democrats, meanwhile, took back control of the Legislature’s District 21 seat, with former Legislator Lynn Archer defeating incumbent Ronald Lapp, 1,282-1,232, in a rematch of the 2015 election. Likewise, Democrats took back the District 8 seat, where Laura Petit, an Independence Party member who ran as a Democrat, defeated Ira Werner, 1,2811,119, the race to succeed Republican Carl Belfiglio. Werner also is an Independence Party member and ran as a Republican.
Unofficial election results, according to the Ulster County Board of Elections, are as follows. (The letter i denotes an incumbent.)
District 1 (Saugerties): Republican Mary Warwo (i) 1,138, Democrat Michael MacIssac 1,104
District 2 (Saugerties): Republican Joseph Maloney 1,186, Democrat Chris Allen (i) 1,101
District 3 (Saugerties, Ulster): Republican Dean Fabiano (i) 1,348
District 4 (Ulster, town of Kingston): Republican James Maloney (i) 1,292, Democrat Laura Hartmann 1,076
District 5 (City of Kingston): Democrat Lynn Eckert 1,043
District 6 (City of Kingston): Democrat David Donaldson (i) 1,336, Republican Jean Jacobs 432
District 7 (City of Kingston): Republican Brian Woltman 1,030, Democrat Jennifer Schwartz-Berky (i) 811
District 8 (Esopus): Democrat Laura Petit 1,281, Republican Ira Werner 1,119
District 9 (Lloyd, Plattekill):
Republican Herb Litts (i) 1,098, Democrat Pamela Krimsky 771
District 10 (Lloyd, Marlborough): Republican Mary Beth Maio (i) 1,027, Democrat Russell Gilmore 802
District 11 (Marlborough): Republican Richard Gerentine (i) 1,411
District 12 (Plattekill): Republican Kevin Roberts (i) 993, Democrat Glen Geher 692
District 13 (Shawangunk): Republican Kenneth Ronk (i) 872
District 14 (Shawangunk, Wawarsing): Republican Craig Lopez (i) 1,059, Democrat Andrew Zink 682
District 15 (Wawarsing): Democrat Julius Collins 787, Republican Cassie Spoor 453
District 16 (Gardiner, Shawangunk): Tracey Bartels (i) 1,425, Republican Kathy Miller 954
District 17 (Esopus, New Paltz): Democrat James Delaune (i) 1,614
District 18 (Hurley, Marbletown): Republican Heidi Haynes 1,522, Democrat Doug Adams 1,368
District 19 (Marbletown, Rosendale): Democrat Manna Jo Greene (i) 1,778
District 20 (New Paltz): Democrat Hector Rodriguez (i) 1,084
District 21 (Rochester, Wawarsing): Democrat Lynn Archer 1,282, Republican Ron Lapp (i) 1,232
District 22 (Denning, Hardenburgh, Olive, Shandaken): John Parete (i) 1,038, Democrat Kathy Nolan 1,018, Republican Cliff Faintych 748
District 23 (Hurley, Woodstock): Democrat Jonathan Heppner (i) 2,363