Saratoga Springs Democrats are sticking with Mayor Ron Kim, who won Tuesday’s primary against a familiar figure in local politics.
Mayor Kim, who is serving his first term, celebrated with supporters Tuesday night after turning away a challenge from former city councilor Chris Mathiesen, a fellow former public safety commissioner.
Kim won by a margin of 864 to 566.
Kim has the Democratic Committee’s endorsement, and will also appear on the Working Families Party line in November, while Mathiesen retains the One Saratoga line. Republican John Safford is also running for mayor.
Kim says voters rewarded progress on some of his administration’s goals.
“We want to make sure that we have a permanent shelter for homelessness," Kim said. "We want to make sure that we continue our Complete Streets program, which is been on the books for many years, but now we're actually building bike trails, pedestrian walkways. We also want to make sure that we have a safe city—continue to fully fund our police, but also make sure that there's accountability there.”
Mathiesen is backed by the One Saratoga platform, which secured its own ballot line earlier this year, and says his campaign remains optimistic about a different result in November.
“So I hope to garner Democrats, Republicans and independents to vote on the issues that I'll be raising between now and November," Mathiesen said. "I think that if people have more time to think about these issues, I think they may be willing to come around.”
Mathiesen previously served three terms as public safety commissioner. He broke with Kim, critical of the conduct at city council meetings as well as Kim’s move to defund the assistant police chief position.
“And then this year, we've had all the incidents with the disruption of the city council meetings, Ron seems not to be willing to take control over those meetings," Mathiesen said. "City governments should not be the operating based upon mob rule.”
Kim says the election result speaks for itself.
“It's been overblown, because really what we've seen in this—throughout the city is progress," Kim said. "And you can't have that progress in a commission form of government without working together. So, we've worked together. Sure, we've had our disagreements. That's what democracy is about. When those happen, we move on. But we've—the proof is in the pudding. We've gotten a lot done. And then the voters have said they want they want more of that.”
