A Troy City Council special election is taking shape with Republicans choosing their candidate for the fall election.
In June Troy District 2 Republican City Councilor Kim Ashe-McPherson resigned after pleading guilty to fraudulently submitting absentee ballots in the 2021 election. On July 7th, councilors, by a 6 to 0 unanimous vote, chose Democrat Steven Figueroa as a new interim member. The vote shifted the balance of power on the council to Democrats, who now outnumber Republicans 4 to 3.
Figueroa says he wants to further serve the community.
"I’ve been working closely with the youth in our community, with community leaders, with the district attorney’s office trying to see what we can do to improve the neighborhood and lower the crime rate and lower the gun violence," said Figueroa. "And, you know, my goal is to provide more opportunities to the young people in our community."
Until a November special election decides the representative for the remainder of the term, Figueroa, who ran against Ashe-McPherson last year, will serve. Democratic Mayor Patrick Madden:
"I think he’s an outstanding person to fill the position," Madden said. "He has the trust of the community, but more importantly, he’s shown a commitment to the community that I’ve seen in few other people in my life. Even after he lost the election, he was still involved, running food drives, running vaccination clinics, getting people out to get vaccinated…"
Republican City Council President Carmella Mantello says Troy City Republican and Conservative Executive Committees have unanimously endorsed Ryan Brosnan to run as the GOP candidate.
“He’s a fifth year apprentice in IBEW Local 236," Mantello said. "Very involved in the community. Lives in North Central and he will be our candidate for the upcoming special election. And his focus is really going to be more proactiveness with public safety and quality of life. Those two issues are pertinent here in Lansingburgh. We're in District 2 right now. And in north central we need to be more proactive. Ryan is gonna be doing that, and we need to ensure that checks and balances are on the council. So if Ryan wins we'll get the majority back to being Republican, which really keeps the mayor and the administration in check.”
Brosnan vows if elected he will work with the mayor and the Democratic council members for the good of the city.
"I'm not a super well-known guy in Troy, I'm not really a politician," said Brosnan. "So it's going to be a real grassroots campaign, it's gonna be a lot of boots on the ground. I'm gonna need a lot of flyers out there, I'm gonna be bouncing on the doors. I plan on knocking on everyone's door in district two at least twice, really get my name and face out there. So everyone knows who, potentially and hopefully they're voting for come November.”
Brosnan outlines his campaign strategy.
"The big things I really want to focus on in my campaign are making sure code enforcement is coming by, getting all the buildings up to date," Brosnan said. "No more of the buildings falling apart in Troy. Garbage abatement, making sure garbage is off the streets, lids are on garbage cans. Things are tiptop, we're not out here sweeping the streets every morning and night after and before work, and getting jobs back in the community. Because if we get young people working, old people working, then we all have better chance of living a good life.”
Early voting in November 8th’s general election starts October 29th.
