Apple to run for state Senate
Sheriff to campaign as a moderate Democrat in newly drawn district
Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple is planning to run for the new state 43rd Senate District, which was just created under maps drawn by a court-appointed special master.
Apple, who has served as the county’s sheriff since 2011, said that if the new lines are finalized, he will officially announce a run in the coming days. He said he will remain sheriff while he campaigns.
“I’ve done this for a long time, and I’ve been somewhat critical of our Legislature at times,” he said. “I can’t sit here and throw rocks at them if I’m not willing to go and try and work with them.”
On Monday, a draft political boundary map drawn by “special master” Jonathan Cervas, a political scientist at Carnegie Mellon, was released, and it upended the state’s political scene.
Cervas was appointed by a state Supreme Court justice in Steuben County to draw the final maps after political lines approved by the Democratcontrolled state Legislature, and signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul in February, were struck down by New
York’s highest court because, in part, the court ruled they were illegally drawn with partisan influence.
The maps are scheduled to be finalized Friday, according to a court order.
The new proposed 43rd District includes Colonie, where Apple lives, all of Rensselaer County and parts of Washington County. Apple also has a home in Rensselaer County.
The 43rd Senate District is currently represented by Republican state Sen. Daphne Jordan, who lives in Halfmoon. That town is not part of the new district.
Apple said he plans to run as a moderate Democrat and pointed to his record of creating programs designed to help those struggling with mental illness and addiction.
A member of the Albany County Sheriff ’s Office since 1997, he gained statewide attention last October when he filed a misdemeanor complaint on the charge of forcible touching against former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo after a former aide accused him of fondling her.
It was the only criminal charge filed against the former governor, who resigned in August 2021 in the face of multiple scandals, which included several women accusing him of inappropriate behavior.
Apple said at the time he had “overwhelming evidence,” but in January Albany County District Attorney David Soares asked a judge to dismiss the complaint. At the time Soares said he found the allegation against Cuomo credible but did not believe he would be able to prove the case at trial.
In response, Cuomo and his associates cast Apple as a “cowboy sheriff ” and have accused him of harboring old grudges.
Unlike his multiple terms as county sheriff, Apple will not be running unopposed if he goes for the state Senate seat.
Democrat Andrea Smyth, who ran for Rensselaer County executive in 2017, has already announced she is running for the seat. Other Democrats within the new district have been approached or considered to run, but none has publicly announced an intention to do so.
Republican State Assemblymember Jake Ashby said earlier this week he is also running for the 43rd District.
But no matter his competitors, Apple will start with an enormous fundraising lead. In 2019, the Times Union reported he had the largest campaign coffer of any sheriff in New York.
That account has only grown in the three years since then, and Apple reported $586,450 in his campaign account, according to the latest filings with the state Board of Elections.
Political maps are redrawn every decade after the U.S. census is released, accounting for population shifts.
While the newly proposed congressional districts in the state have drawn the most attention, new maps have also transformed the state Senate.
In several of the proposed districts, incumbent state senators would now be pitted against one another, including state. Sen. James Tedisco, R- Glenville, and state Sen. Neil Breslin, D-bethlehem.