Sheehan, Shrestha face off in race for 103rd Assembly District
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> The race for the state’s 103rd Assembly District seat features a Republican realtor and a Democratic candidate who helps head the Mid-Hudson Valley chapter of a socialist organization.
Republican Patrick Sheehan, 52, is squaring off against Democrat Sarahana Shrestha, 41, for the assembly seat during the upcoming General Election.
Shrestha defeated current Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, D-Kingston, in a June primary to receive the Democratic line on the ballot.
Both candidates are attempting to get elected to the now Democratic ally controlled state legislature.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 8. Early voting starts Saturday, Oct. 29.
New York’s new 103rd Assembly District comprises the city of Kingston, and towns of New Paltz, Woodstock, Olive, Hurley, Marbletown, Gardiner, Rosendale, Esopus, Ulster, Red Hook and Rhinebeck.
Patrick Sheehan
Sheehan lives in the town of Ulster hamlet of Ruby. He was born in Kingston and grew up in Rhinebeck.
Sheehan earned a bachelor’s degree in 1993 from Boston College and a law degree in 1999 from Albany Law School. He has been president of PS Realty SVCS Corp. since 2018 and has also served as president of Kingston Maritime Co. since 2020.
Previously, Sheehan owned Sheehan and Son Contracting from 2009 to 2011 and he served on the town of Ulster Economic Development Committee from 2010 through 2015. He was also director of business development for the Ulster County Development Corporation between 2008 and 2009. Additionally, Sheehan served as an investigator for the Orange County Medical Examiner’s Office and a criminal law associate for the Queens County District Attorney’s Office.
Sheehan is married with three children.
“The 2019 Bail Reform Act puts our citizens at risk,” Sheehan said in a statement. “Our elected leaders have repudiated years worth of sensible crime control policies to appease a fringe minority, who don’t even live in the “at risk” communities they say they speak for.”
Regarding energy and climate change, he said that “NYS is putting every resident at risk of unreliable power disruption due to passage of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019 … This law in essence is an unfunded mandate demanding that power companies meet environmental thresholds that are completely unrealistic and threaten our infrastructure and public safety.”
In regards to drugs, Sheehan said, “I will work with local law enforcement to enhance penalties for those who manufacture, distribute and sell fentanyl to our citizens. … I will make sure police departments and social service providers have access to the funding and resources they need.”
Sheehan criticized gun control laws. “New York State has some of the toughest gun laws on the books, yet homicidal mass murderers still roam our communities,” Sheehan said.
“The increasing regulations NYS elected officials enact against citizens lawfully exercising their U.S. Constitutional rights to carry firearms is likely illegal and turning those who attempt to meet these technical requirements into felons,” Sheehan added.
Sarahana Shrestha
Shrestha lives in Esopus. She is a native of Nepal and became a U.S. citizen in 2019. A professor co-signing her student loan made it possible for Shrestha to move to New York in the fall of 2001 to study computer graphics, according to her campaign website.
Shrestha is the Ulster County co-chair for the Mid-Hudson Valley chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, helping to organize efforts for healthcare, housing, and the environment, her campaign website said.
By 2018, Shrestha felt an increasing urgency to dedicate herself more seriously to organizing for healthcare rights and against climate change in the Hudson Valley. She became an American citizen along with 50 other immigrants in 2019 at the Ulster County Courthouse in Kingston.
Shrestha lives with her husband, their dog and several chickens.
One of the topics Shrestha has set as a priority is housing. “Housing should be a public good, but corporate developers and landlords who use it for profit have made it a scarce commodity,” Shrestha said. “Affordable housing wait times range from 19-44 weeks. We must rewrite the rules to bring good, stable housing to all.”
As for health care, she said that “Access to health
care should not depend on income, employment, marriage or legal status. It’s time to build a system that puts our well-being first, and guarantees universal care for all.”
Shrestha is a supporter of government take-over of utility companies. “We cannot build a renewable future as long as corporations trap New York state at just 4% wind and solar energy,” she said. “We need Public Power: a publicly owned, democratically run energy system designed to provide clean and affordable energy to all, instead of creating profits for shareholders.”
In regards to justice, she said that “In Ulster County, where 87% of residents are white, 63% of those incarcerated in state prisons are … people of color,” including Black and Latino populations, Shrestha said in her campaign site. “To provide true safety for all, we must fix our broken system of justice, and invest in public goods.”