TRUMP ON MINDS OF LOCAL VOTERS
To some, president’s performance as important as current candidates
A random sampling of local voters on Tuesday found evidence of what national pollsters have been saying: The 2018 election is largely about President Donald Trump, even though he’s not on any ballot.
At the Glasco Fire House in the town of Saugerties, many voters weighed in on the often-controversial president.
“I don’t like what [Trump] has done with people coming into the country, separating children,” said voter Alice Conklin, a Democrat. “There are parts of him that are just absolutely evil.”
Conklin said she ordinarily
does not vote for candidates of only one party but did so Tuesday, voting only for Democrats, to make a statement against Trump.
Her companion, Joseph Morgan, a nonenrolled voter, called Conklin “Trump’s enemy” before acknowledging that he, too, is unhappy with the president.
Democrat Chris Rose said she felt “extraordinarily motivated this year.”
“It’s a Trump-effect thing, it’s a [U.S. Rep. John] Faso-effect thing, it’s a white supremacy-effect thing, it’s a life-on-theline-effect thing,” she said.
Rose’s wife, Charlotte, also a Democrat, said she vehemently opposes Trump and described her
votes on Tuesday as being against a “confederate presidency” that has created a deplorable image for the United States.
“We have children in concentration camps,” she said, referring to migrant young people separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. “It’s devastating. It’s horrifying.”
One Democrat who spoke at the Glasco polling place said she voted for several Republican candidates.
Rose Riozzi said she cast ballots for Marc Molinaro in the New York governor’s race, U.S. Rep. John Faso in
his bid to keep New York’s 19th Congressional District seat, and state Sen. George Amedore to continue representing the state’s 46th Senate District.
“I like [Faso],” Riozzi said. “He’s helped me, and so has George Amedore.”
Former village of Saugerties Police Chief William Kimble, a Republican, declined to say who he voted for in the four-way race for Faso’s seat but acknowledged supporting Molinaro, the Dutchess County executive, for governor.
“I think he’s a good man,” Kimble said. “I’ve been watching his career. He seems like a good candidate, I think we need a change there.”
Like in Glasco, Trump was prominent in interviews
with voters at the George Washington Elementary School polling place in Kingston. But some in Kingston said they wanted to express independence with their votes.
Democrat Ken Dreyfack said he made a point of voting for candidates on minor-party lines as long as he didn’t feel it would benefit Trump.
“It was a straight Working Families ballot, except for state Supreme Court, where I didn’t vote because I know nothing about any of those people,” he said. “I’m disturbed, upset, concerned and anxious over the existence of Donald Trump.”
Democrat Ellen Honig stuck to her party’s line on the ballot, saying it was
her way of making an antiTrump statement.
“I wanted to make sure that we have a way to stop him ... and that we have a way to block him and some of his extreme initiatives,” she said. “I feel like he is inciting violence around the country. I want that to stop. I voted against Faso because I feel like he’s part of the Trump effect.”
Jean Gregoire, an independent, showed support for incumbents by voting for Faso and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, but he also weighed in with concerns about the president.
“I really honestly hope I can trust [Faso when it comes to Trump],” he said. “It’s very difficult nowadays .... ”
Democrat Leonard
Walker, a former member of the Kingston Common Council, voted for members of both major parties, and he opposed incumbents by voting for Molinaro and for Faso’s Democratic opponent, Antonio Delgado.
“I think Gov. Cuomo is spending ... too much of taxpayers’ money,” Walker said. “He needs to be a little more conservative with our money.”
Nat Collins, an independent, said he ordinarily would have voted on several party lines but was looking to send a message this year, so he cast all his votes for Democrats.
“The way this country is being represented abroad, in the world, has really hurt us a lot,” Collins said. “I think it’s time for us to forget
about the division and bring us together again.”
Brian Barney, also an independent, said he voted for Delgado and Molinaro out of concern about the local economy.
“Molinaro has been on the record as supporting the [local[ film industry,” he said in explaining his vote for the Republican.
Democrat Amari Brodhead said she felt compelled to vote a straight party line in her first participation in a midterm election.
“It seemed like there was a lot at stake for me because one, I’m young, two, I’m a girl, three, I’m black,” she said. “So it’s just a lot of things piling up ... so I kind of wanted to have women’s rights and better rights for everybody.”