3rd Democrat joins race for Amedore’s Senate seat
A third Democrat has entered the race for the state Senate seat being vacated by Republican George Amedore.
Gary Greenberg, of New Baltimore in Greene County, announced Thursday that he is forming an “exploratory campaign committee” to run for the 46th District seat in 2020.
Greenberg, a child victims’ advocate, joins Democrats Michelle Hinchey and Jeff Collins in seeking the seat. There so far is no Republican candidate in the district, which comprises part of Ulster County, all of Greene and Montgomery counties, and parts of Albany and Schenectady counties.
Greenberg is founder of the nonprofit group Protect New York Kids and a political action committee called Fighting for Children.
“Public service is about fighting for the interests of the people you were elected to represent, getting laws passed, securing financial resources for local organizations,” Greenberg said in a press release. “For the last five years of my life, I have been fighting to enact the [New York] Child Victims Act, and I traveled from Long Island to Buffalo working to elect senators to make the Child Victims Act the law of the land.”
Greenberg said becoming a state senator “could be the next chapter in my commitment to serve the public and make state government responsive to all the residents of the 46th Senate District.”
Greenberg said he also fought successfully to enact Erin’s Law, which requires all public schools in New York state to instruct children about best practices to prevent and identify potential sexual abuse.
Greenberg previously served as an Albany County legislator and Albany County Democratic committeeman before moving to Columbia County and then to Greene County.
Collins, of Woodstock, launched in his campaign in the late summer. Hinchey, daughter of late former U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, joined the race about a month later.
Amedore, R-Rotterdam, announced last month that he would not seek a fourth two-year term in the Senate.