Republican Rensselaer County legislator seeks Assembly seat
RENSSELAER COUNTY, N.Y. » Even though District 4 Rensselaer County Legislator Jake Ashby has only a few months experience in politics, he still believes he is the right candidate for the empty 107 New York State Assembly seat.
Ashby was nominated last month to be the Republican candidate in a special Assembly seat election taking place April 24 to fill the seat of former Republican Assemblyman and current Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin.
McLaughlin left his 107th Assembly seat after becoming county executive this year. The 107TH Assembly district covers parts of Rensselaer, Columbia and Washington counties.
Ashby will challenge Democratic Rensselaer County Legislator Cindy Doran in the special election.
Ashby, 37, is a former Army Captain from Castleton who served two tours of combat duty, and today works as an occupational therapist and college instructor. Ashby earned his MBA-H from Union Graduate College in Schenectady. He is a local entrepreneur, starting his own occupational therapy practice in 2014. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in education from Creighton University.
He is a Prior Castleton VFW Post Commander.
In January, Ashby was elected to the County Legislature in District 4, which includes the towns of Schodack, Sand Lake and Nassau. He won election last fall, and included endorsements from a number of community figures, along with former Congressman Chris Gibson.
Ashby said he never really thought about being the candidate to replace McLaughlin’s Assembly seat, but once he was approached by several people about it, he thought the position could be a good fit for him.
“It came unexpectedly,” said Ashby during a recent interview. “I was approached by a couple of people afterwards ... I was certainly surprised and I was grateful and honored for it.”
Ashby knows and understands his opponent has more experience in politics than himself but feels now is the right time for him to take on this role and that he can be successful in that role as well.
“My opponent has been
involved for a longer time, but I think that people are interested in a newer perspective or a newer face going forward,” he said. “I’m certain there’s going to be challenges and a bit of a learning curve, but I look forward to it and I am certainly embracing the challenge.”
Ashby said after knowing McLaughlin was going to step down from his Assembly seat, he knew he wanted to be that person to fill his role with some of the same manners.
“I felt that with Steve stepping down, we were losing a strong voice and a strong leader for this Assembly district and the people that it represents,” Ashby said.
Ashby said if elected, he believes he would be able to be that strong voice to help villages in Rensselaer County with things like their ongoing water issues.
“The water issues are certainly a high priority. I think it’s being able to expand infrastructure and that’s certainly a priority for me,” he said.
Ashby said he disagrees with many policies that Democratic Gov. Andrew
Cuomo advocates, but he did note he agrees with some of the policies.
“I would say there are several things that Gov. Cuomo puts out there, like the policies and economically especially, I disagree with, I think it’s a difference of philosophy where he thinks that we can tax the people into prosperity and that doesn’t make any sense,” Ashby noted.
He said he has been campaigning in the 107th Assembly district and will continue to until the special election.
The winner of the special election will have to run again for that seat this November.