With Election Day less than a week away, the three-way race for mayor in Saratoga Springs is coming down to the wire.
The crowded field for mayor of Saratoga Springs includes first-term Democrat and Working Families Party-backed incumbent Ron Kim, Republican challenger John Safford and One Saratoga candidate Chris Mathiesen.
Safford, who is in his second bid for mayor after two failed bids for county supervisor, was endorsed by embattled Democratic Public Safety Commissioner James Montagnino Monday.
Speaking to WAMC, Kim, who has publicly feuded with Montagnino for months, says the endorsement signifies a larger shift to the right in city politics.
“Birds of a feather flock together," explained Kim. "In this case, John Stafford, who's an ultra-MAGA Republican, has now joined forces with Jim Montagnino who, sadly, started as I guess, a Democrat, and now is essentially crossed over to become also a MAGA Republican. The reason I say that is, first, they believe in the big lie. John Safford is walking around saying, ‘We have an unprecedented crime wave.’”
For his part, Montagnino has faulted the mayor for failing to maintain order during city council meetings and an “inability to control his temper.”
The self-proclaimed “Kennedy Democrat” says Kim’s opponent Safford “represents the best our city can offer.”
As with the former city council, some city council meetings were interrupted by local Black Lives Matter activists earlier this year.
In a WAMC interview in October, Safford said, if elected, he would implement strict procedures to maintain order.
“I've been working on a number of plans for how public comment is to be done," Safford said. "And I plan on posting those, I plan and following those. I know that there might be a couple of very difficult meetings until it's understood that we will follow that procedure, whatever it is.”
During the campaign, Safford has repeatedly claimed Saratoga Springs is experiencing a “crime wave.” His campaign says the city saw a 30% increase in major crimes between 2021 and 2022, though that characterization is disputed by the city’s police chief, Tyler McIntosh.
Mathiesen, a registered Democrat who like Kim is a former city Public Safety Commissioner, has criticized the mayor throughout his campaign for what he labels as ineffective leadership during city council meetings.
Now retired from his dental practice, Mathiesen has regularly attended and spoken at council meetings during Kim’s term.
“But they don't follow the agenda." Matheisen continued, "I've been in so many different meetings, both in the city and in my profession—regarding organized dentistry, you follow the agenda. Ron Kim has created really havoc in our city council meetings, it's really hard to follow the agenda.”
Kim maintains that while his opponents are attacking him on the campaign trail, they’re failing to present their own ideas for positive change in the Spa City.
“I've not only proposed more, but I've actually done that in the last 21 day—21 months and it's been, you know, really remarkable results," Kim said. "We had two meetings that ended up having to be adjourned. And that's out of 120 plus city council meetings between our pre agenda and our agenda meetings and our budget workshops, all of which are public. They're making a lot about two meetings.
Skidmore Democrats are hosting a candidate forum Wednesday on the private college campus, but Saratoga Springs Republican Committee Chair Michael Brandi has advised GOP candidates against attending the student event.
“So it’s hosted by the Skidmore Democrats, which inherently that’s fine, you know, they want to be politically interested and get their feet wet sort of thing." Continuing, Brandi said, "but, looking at their website and doing some exploring, reading right from their website; they're the official youth outreach of the Democratic Party. And the main purpose of this clause is to register and elect Democrats. So that was concerning. You know, the thought to me was, you know, sending my candidates into a form run by a group whose avowed purposes electing their opponents was concerning.”
Safford's campaign says the candidate will not be attending what they label, "a Democrat forum, hosted by a Democrat affiliated student group whose declared student club mission is to get Democrats elected."
Election Day is November 7th.
