ASHBY RE-ELECTED TO 107TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT SEAT
Ashby beat out Democrat Tistrya Houghtling Tuesday night
TROY, N.Y. >> In the race for Assembly in the 107th Assembly District, incumbent Republican Assemblyman Jake Ashby retained his seat in the New York State Assembly, defeating Democrat challenger Tistrya Houghtling, by a final tally of 27,514 to 25,903 on election night.
“I’m grateful, that’s the adjective I’d use to describe the victory. Energized by the win, we saw the Senate go blue so and the congressional district as well, part of my district covers [John] Faso’s district, so it was good that we were able to keep our seat despite those Democrat victories,” Assemblyman Ashby said of his feel- ings on the election night victory. “Really I credit everybody that was out there working for me with the victory, Rich Crist especially and all of the committee chairs throughout the towns and all of the county personnel in Washington, Rensselaer, and Columbia counties.”
Assemblyman Ashby also graciously thanked his opponent Houghtling on a hard-fought campaign.
“I think there’s a lot of opportunity for bipartisan cooperation, obviously with the Senate going Democrat we’re going to need that, we’ve already been in that position in the Assembly, so we’re going to need to continue that going forward in the Senate and we’ve also got to stay true to our values as well as Republican Con-
servatives and really show the meaning of those beliefs through the legislation that we propose,” Assemblyman Ashby said of working in the post- election climate in the legislature.
In addition, Assemblyman Ashby said he’s looking to use his voice and experience to support his constituents on agricultural issues and lessening burdensome regulation on farmers.
“I’m definitely looking to do that. Some of the proposed legislation that’s been presented to both houses would regulate farm workers to the point where they’d have to work eight hour days, qualify for overtime, that sort of thing and I just don’t think that’s a good thing and I think it shows a lack of knowledge from where this legislation is coming from on how farms work and the personnel that work on them. I would certainly fight that but I would also try and help and educate those legislators who are proposing this legislation, trying to show how this is damaging to our farms, not actually helping them,” Assemblyman Ashby said of offering his expertise.
“In terms of being in the minority, the positive is you can be an individual voice and you don’t necessarily have to worry about what the majority is pushing you to say. I’m definitely going to carry that torch for a lot of different issues but for agriculture, in particular, you know even when I was deployed as a Civil Affairs Officer I had to work agricultural issues when I was in Afghanistan in a very rural area. They had an agriculture team from Indiana and Iowa and I took these guys out on patrol and took them out to farmers to help with locals who were farmers in their area and to help them out with their issues. I’ve been doing that type of work for a little while,” Assemblyman Ashby added of his first-hand real-world experience on a number of issues, especially agriculture.
Much like his predecessor Steve McLaughlin, Assemblyman Ashby noted how being in the minority wouldn’t deter him from speaking up and leading by example as a check on Governor Andrew Cuomo.
“Letting him know I’m there and giving the people I serve a voice. Already we’re seeing the Governor come out on what happened in California and stating that he’s going to enhance gun control laws here. We already have the strictest gun control measures in this country and I just don’t see the value in that and I don’t think the people of this district see the value in that either,” Ashby added of serving as a check and voice of opposition to the executive branch in Albany.