Another candidate joins 19th District race
Sullivan resident hopes to run as independent
Another independent has joined the crowded field of candidates seeking to run against Republican U.S. Rep. John Faso in New York’s 19th Congressional District.
Luisa Parker, 55, announced her candidacy recently by launching a website describing her experience and her platform. The resident of Callicoon in Sullivan County is the prevention services coordinator for Catholic Charities Prevention Services of Orange and Sullivan and says she has no background in politics. Instead, Parker says, she has a background in service and has the skillset required “to achieve the measurable outcomes our district needs to flourish.”
By phone Friday, Parker said she began toying with the idea of running for office last fall. She said she was not surprised when Donald Trump was elected president because a lot of people were tired of politics as usual and many were distrustful of Hillary Clinton.
After Trump was elected, Parker said, she expected him to make some changes.
“I didn’t think he’d be doing the nonsense he’s been doing,” she said.
Parker pointed to Trump’s handling of health care, the environment and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.
Parker also criticized the way Faso has voted.
Parker said she is not enrolled in a political party and that to appear on the ballot in November, she will need to secure 3,500 signatures from registered voters.
“It’s quite a challenge,” she said.
Parker is the second independent to announce her candidacy. TV crime drama actress and Hurley resident Diane Neal launched an independent bid for the 19th District seat last month.
Neal, 41, who had a longrunning stint on NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” is a registered Democrat.
Seven Democrats are seeking their party’s endorsement to challenge Faso in November: Jeffrey Beals of Woodstock, David Clegg of Woodstock, Erin Collier of Cooperstown, Antonio Delgado of Rhinebeck, Brian Flynn of Elka Park, Gareth Rhodes of Kerhonkson, and Patrick Ryan of Gardiner.
Collier entered the race less than a week ago.
A Democratic primary in the 19th District is scheduled for June 26. The winner will run against Faso, a first-term congressman from Kinderhook.
The district comprises all of Ulster, Greene, Columbia, Sullivan, Delaware, Schoharie and Otsego counties; most of Dutchess County; parts of Rensselaer and Montgomery counties; and a small section of Broome County.
Parker said she is married and has five adult children and nine grandchildren. She says on her
website that she will fight to ensure safe schools for children and increase Title I funding. Parker also says she wants to safeguard New York’s Pell Grant funding and tuition-free admission to state colleges. And she wants to improve educational standards and see the implementation of more
equitable services for students in public schools.
Additionally, Parker wants to fund prevention efforts to proactively address opioid use in the Hudson Valley, as well as safeguard rural hospitals. She also favors universal background checks and the FixNix bill for gun purchases.
Parker also supports equal pay for equal work and economic revitalization in the Hudson Valley, among other issues.