102nd District Assemblyman Tague challenged by O’Connor
Republican state Assemblyman Christopher Tague is being challenged again by Democrat Aidan O’Connor Jr. for the 102nd Assembly District seat.
Tague, 49, is running on the Republican, Conservative, Independence, and Reform party lines in the Nov. 6 election.
O’Connor, 30, is running on the Democratic, Working Families, and Women’s Equality party lines.
The winner will serve a two-year term.
The 102nd Assembly District includes all of Greene and Schoharie counties; parts of Otsego, Delaware, and Albany counties; and the towns of Saugerties in Ulster County and Stockport and Stuyvesant in Columbia County.
Tague has served in the Assembly since winning the April 24 special election to replace Assemblyman Peter Lopez, R Schoharie. A graduate of Schoharie Central School, Tague served as Schoharie town supervisor from 2015 until taking state office. The Schoharie resident is engaged to be married and has two children.
“In just my first six weeks in office, I’ve done everything I said I was going to do,” Tague said in a statement. He said he voted to cut taxes by $72 million, sponsored and cosponsored legislation in support of volunteer firefighter and emergency medical services, and left his job as general manager of Cobleskill Stone Products to be a full-time assemblyman. Tague said he has also used his private and public connections to work with local communities, broadband companies, and internet service providers to expand services and coverage in rural areas.
Tague said he also met with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue to bring attention to problems facing dairy and produce farms. He said he also pushed the secretary to advocate for Congress to put whole milk back into school lunch programs and to put pressure on the FDA to not label soy and almond waters as “milk.”
“I also plan on presenting legislation to increase incentives to local schools, colleges, and prisons that use local dairy and produce products in their food programs,” Tague said. He said he is also working with partners to establish programs for people in need of longterm recovery from opioid and alcohol addictions.
O’Connor is the business manager for Life Net and also works as a certified paramedic and paramedic lab instructor. He is a resident of East Durham who graduated from Greenville High School and received a paramedic certification from SUNY Cobleskill. O’Connor has served on the Greene County Legislature since 2016. He also ran unsuccessfully against Tague during the April 24 special election for the assembly seat.
“My district has not had a representative in the majority in over 30 years,” O’Connor said in a statement. “That means we’ve been losing out on grants and state funding for our roads, schools, first responders, economic development, and so much more.” He said with a truly independent voice in the Assembly’s majority, local communities would have someone who could demand a bigger piece of state dollars to improve lives and solve the issues faced in the 102nd Assembly District.
O’Connor said that includes getting more resources for the two small hospitals in the district and affordable health care for residents struggling to make ends meet. He said he would demand funding for emergency medical services that are having difficulty keeping their doors open. Additionally, O’Connor said he would always be fair and ethical and stand up to corruption, as well as support closing the limited liability corporation loophole for campaign contributions.
“I will demand action, not just awareness, to solve our deadly opioid crisis by taking action against pharmaceutical companies who have contributed to it,” O’Connor added.