Ulster County Dems endorse candidates
County executive, district attorney 23 seats on ballot
KINGSTON — The Ulster County Democratic Committee endorsed candidates for countywide positions in November’s elections, choosing two established officials for the powerful positions of county executive and district attorney and what the party called its “most inclusive, diverse slate of candidates” for County Legislature.
When Ulster County voters go to the polls this fall, they will elect new leadership across county government: an executive, district attorney and all 23 representatives in the County Legislature. The Democratic Committee endorsements are highly coveted in the left-leaning county, where Democrats hold a nearly 2-to-1 voter enrollment advantage, according to data from the state Board of Elections.
More than 230 representatives from the county’s Democratic Committee convened online on Feb. 23 to choose the slate of candidates. For county executive, the committee unanimously tapped Jen Metzger, the current officeholder who won in a special election last November to fill out the remainder of U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan’s term.
Metzger is seeking a full fouryear term as county executive. From 2018 to 2020, she was the state senator for the 42nd District, which encompasses her hometown of Rosendale, where she had previously been a town council member and the deputy town supervisor. She also served on the state Cannabis Control Board, helping craft the regulatory framework for New York’s adult-use cannabis industry.
Metzger’s headline initiative in her short tenure so far as county executive has been a 13point climate plan directing county government to take action on a broad array of climate goals, in line with the state Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019.
“I ran for this office with a vision to create a sustainable, resilient, thriving Ulster County that leaves no one behind. I have gotten right to work in my first six weeks in office on initiatives aligned with this vision,” Metzger said in a statement. “I have also worked to build a transparent and collaborative relationship with my partners in the legislature, and to reach out to areas of the county that have in the past felt under the radar and underserved.”
There was somewhat more drama in the run-up to the nomination for district attorney, though in the end, Chief Assistant Ulster County District Attorney Emmanuel Nneji outpolled fellow Democrat Jarrid Blades by 27,690.5 weighted votes to 12,622 weighted votes.
Nneji joined the district attorney’s office in 1990, rising through the ranks to serve as chief assistant under former District Attorney Donald Williams. He was reappointed in that role last summer by outgoing District Attorney David Clegg, who is not running for reelection.
“Through my personal commitment to serve over the past 30-plus years as a prosecutor, I have done everything I can to help keep the office upright and steady, because the people of Ulster County deserve a DA’S office that works for all of us,” Nneji said in a statement. “I will continue to do the work while spreading a positive message of public safety and justice to the community as we engage every voter to build the coalition necessary to win the race.”
Nneji’s current boss, Clegg, won in 2019 by running on a “progressive prosecutor” platform, promising to shift prosecutorial strategy away from incarceration and toward rehabilitation for nonviolent offenders; reallocate funds to youth programs, drug counseling and community policing efforts; and increase transparency from the district attorney’s office. But he has faced scrutiny from some law enforcement officials during his tenure, which seemed to threaten the electoral prospects of Nneji, his second in command, in the days leading up to the nominating convention.
A week before the nomination, Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa endorsed one of his employees — Jarrid Blades, the county civil administrator — for district attorney. Some in county government saw the endorsement as improper given the close working relationship between the sheriff ’s and district attorney’s offices.
What’s more, Blades was a registered Republican until October 2022, when he switched his registration to Democrat. He has also donated money in the past to Mike Kavanagh, a former special prosecutor and chief assistant district attorney in Ulster County who lost to Clegg in 2019 by just 78 votes while running as a Republican.
Kavanagh is running for district attorney again in 2023 with the backing of the county Republican Committee, though he left the party last fall and now presents himself as nonpolitical.
The Democratic Committee’s County Legislature endorsements are: Aaron Levine, District 1 (Saugerties/woodstock); Joseph Maloney, District 2 (Saugerties); Keith Gurgui, District 3 (Saugerties/town of Kingston/ulster); Tamika Dunkley, District 4 (Ulster); Abe Uchitelle, District 5 (city of Kingston); Greg Mccollough, District 6 (city of Kingston); Peter Criswell, District 7 (city of Kingston); Joe Donaldson, District 8 (Esopus/ulster/city of Kingston); Robert Haskins, District 9 (Esopus/lloyd); Kelli Palinkas Greer, District 14 (Shawangunk/ Wawarsing); John Gavaris, District 15 (Wawarsing/ellenville); Debra Clinton, District 16 (Gardiner/plattekill); Megan Sperry, District 17 (Esopus/new Paltz); Eric Stewart, District 18 (Hurley/marbletown); Manna Jo Greene, District 19 (Marbletown/rosendale); Limina Grace Harmon, District 20 (New Paltz); Chris Hewitt, District 21 (Rochester/wawarsing); Kathy Nolan, District 22 (Denning/hardenburgh/ Olive/shandaken); and Jeff Collins, District 23 (Hurley/woodstock).
The primaries for Ulster County are on June 27, with early voting from June 17-25. Election Day is Nov. 7, with early voting from Oct. 28 to Nov. 5.