Tuesday’s Democratic primary contests in the City of Schenectady will be decided by absentee ballots. But change is coming to the city council.
Seven candidates vying for five city council seats appeared on Tuesday’s ballot in the Electric City.
Three Democratic incumbents are seeking re-election: current Council President John Mootooveren, Councilor Marion Porterfield, and Councilor Karen Zalewski-Wildzunas. Challenger Damonni Farley is also seeking a four-year term.
Three are running to fill the remainders of two two-year terms in a special election: Carl Williams, Haileab Samuel, and Doreen Ditoro.
In the special, Williams leads with 1,065 votes, Ditoro is in second with 1,011, and Samuel came in third with 970, according to unofficial returns from the Schenectady County Board of Elections.
Samuel is not yet conceding. He campaigned with Williams; both had the backing of the city Democratic Committee.
“I’m not certain what impact that is going to have on the absentee ballots, but again, like I said, we’ll just have to wait and see,” said Samuel.
Ahead of Samuel by only 41 votes, Ditoro expects her lead will hold.
“You know we just have to wait until they’re counted so…but I felt pretty confident going in and I feel pretty confident now,” said Ditoro.
The close race was not surprising to Samuel.
“I felt we had a field of very strong candidates, all three of us who were running for the two-year seat, and I knew that the margin of victory was going to be very close,” said Samuel.
In the contests for the three four-year seats, Councilor Porterfield leads with 1,334 votes, Farley came in second with 1,171, Councilor Mootooveren got 1,078 votes, and Councilor Zalewski-Wildzunas received 928 votes, according to unofficial returns.
Zalewski-Wildzunas provided a statement to WAMC saying she was disappointed in the turnout and points out that she will appear on the Conservative Party ballot line in November. She added, “I look forward to continuing to work for the people of Schenectady, putting the city first.”
Regarding the low number of ballots cast, City Democratic Committee Chair Tom Bellick called turnout “terrible.” The first June primary in Schenectady was held in 2019 after being moved up from September.
“The numbers would have been different if this was a general election. But it’s a primary, it’s the first time in a long time that we’ve had a primary of this nature,” said Bellick.
Though all the incumbents were endorsed by the city Democratic Committee, they did not campaign all together.
Zalewski-Wildzunas did not join Porterfield and Mootooveren on the campaign trail after she proposed a vote of no confidence against Mootooveren in April after she was removed from two council committee assignments. One position was later restored.
Bellick said he was unsure if the disagreements among the councilors hurt Zalewski-Wildzunas at the ballot box.
“It’s more of a mystery to me. I don’t know how all of that happened. I don’t know how she… I don’t know.”
With absentee ballots still to be counted, Bellick said the city Democratic Committee would pull together their campaign for November “very, very soon.”
Candidates slated to appear on November’s ballot also include at least three endorsed by Republicans, Kevin Hammer, Vivian Parsons, and Brendan Nally.
Thearse McCalmon is also in the running, receiving the endorsement of the Working Families Party.
In the Democratic primary for Schenectady County Legislature District 1, Omar Sterling McGill bested Brendan Savage. Savage defeated McGill for the WFP line.
