Representatives for five seats on the currently all-Democratic Schenectady City Council will be chosen on Election Day.
Three Schenectady city council members are defending their seats against three challengers.
City council president John Mootooveren, councilors Marion Porterfield, and Karen Zalewski-Wildzunas, all Democrats, are seeking re-election. Zalewski-Wildzunas was defeated in the June Democratic primary but continued her campaign on the Conservative Party line.
Damonni Farley, a Democrat, is also seeking a full four-year term, as are Republican candidates Brendan Nally and Kevin Hammer.
Meantime, five will appear on the ballot to fill the remainders of the terms vacated by former councilors Leesa Perazzo and Ed Kosiur, both Democrats. Doreen Ditoro and Carl Williams will appear on the Democratic line. Williams is joined by Thearse McCalmon, a former mayoral and State Senate candidate, on the Working Families Party Line. Haileab Samuel, who came up short in June’s Democratic primary, will appear on the Conservative line. Vivian Parsons will appear on the Conservative and Republican lines.
From the beginning of the contest, party leaders remarked on the diversity of the candidates. Seven are people of color.
Chris Koetzle, chair of the Schenectady County GOP, and Tom Bellick, Schenectady’s city Democratic Committee chair, touted the strength of their candidates in interviews with WAMC.
“I’ve seen nothing but a resurgence among Republicans in Schenectady County,” said Koetzle.
I don’t think we’re going to have very big problems with the Republicans. We’re going to run an aggressive campaign as usual,” said Bellick.
Republican candidates Parsons and Hammer have been regular fixtures at city council meetings during the campaign, giving vocal support for the city’s police during a time of scrutiny and Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
Parsons spoke at a September city council meeting, criticizing the tactics and foul language used against police officers and others by BLM supporters during an August community event. She responded after demonstrators, arrested on charges of child endangerment and disorderly conduct weeks after the event, claimed their First Amendment rights were violated
“What about my child’s right to feel safe and comfortable that day at an event that was hosted by the police department for children?” asked Parsons.
Councilor Zalewski-Wildzunas, not having won a Democratic line in the primary, also positioned herself as a pro-police candidate. She brought forward legislative items related to public safety and introduced a failed measure that condemned Black Lives Matter organizer and Schenectady school board member Jamaica Miles by name.
Tensions persisted among Democrats, with a boiling point reached during a press conference the same September evening of the city council meeting mentioned earlier.
As Democratic chair Bellick gathered the Black and Brown Democrats on the steps of city hall, council candidate Doreen Ditoro, who is white, and supporters confronted the rally that included councilors Mootooveren and Porterfield, as well as candidates Williams and Farley. During the confrontation, Ditoro’s ex-husband allegedly shoved a campaign sign at the county’s Democratic chair and had to be restrained.
A seemingly exasperated Carl Williams then took to the podium during the public comment period in the ensuing council meeting, frustrated with the perceived standards placed on him as a Black candidate versus white candidates, while the city at the same time pursed action against Black demonstrators.
“My opinion doesn’t even really matter, I have to get elected. And that means I have to sacrifice the essence of who I am, as a Black man, to make sure that I appeal to as many voters as humanly possible.”
With two currently empty seats, even if the incumbents are re-elected, a new dynamic is nearly guaranteed on the city council after Election Day. Democratic Mayor Gary McCarthy is not up for election this year.
