In Dutchess County, former Republican State Senator Sue Serino and Democrat Tommy Zurhellen are competing to replace County Executive William O’Neil, who has been serving the remainder of the term left by former county executive, now Congressman Marc Molinaro. Serino spent eight years representing Dutchess County in Albany, and owns Serino Realty in Hyde Park, while Zurhellen is a Navy veteran and longtime professor at Marist College who made headlines for walking across the country to advocate for veterans in 2019.
Also on the ballot in Dutchess County: voters will also be choosing a new district attorney, after longtime DA William Grady announced plans to retire at the end of the year. In that race, Republican Matthew Weishaupt faces Democrat Anthony Parisi.
In Poughkeepsie, voters will be selecting their third mayor in two years. Common Councilor Yvonne Flowers could be the first person of color to hold the seat after surprising incumbent Mayor Marc Nelson in the Democratic primary. The daughter of the late John Flowers, a celebrated community organizer and carpenter in Poughkeepsie, Yvonne Flowers has spent four terms representing the city’s fifth ward. If elected mayor, Flowers says public safety would be her top priority.
"Right now there are people loitering on the streets. They're actually shooting up on the streets. We want to be able to move the individuals from off our Main Street corridor, but also find a way of helping these individuals," says Flowers. "So that way they're in more safer environments, and also receive the services that they need to help them through their mental illness or through their drug addiction."
Republican Anthony LaRocca also lists public safety as his main concern — but where Flowers sees a need for better coordinated programs, LaRocca wants Poughkeepsie to focus on recruiting and retaining police officers. A government and criminal justice teacher at Our Lady of Lourdes High School, LaRocca says the common council has been “dragging its feet” on an updated recruitment and retention plan negotiated between Nelson’s office and the Poughkeepsie PBA earlier this year. His first moves as mayor would be to ensure the police and fire departments have everything they need — and then to clean up Poughkeepsie’s streets.
“No one wants to come here because of the crime. Look at the streets — I went up and down Main Street the other day, it's filthy," says LaRocca. "I was in Kingston the other day, visiting in Kingston. I said to my wife, 'I can't find a piece of paper on the street.' The streets were super clean. But I’m telling you, then I’m gonna look at that. Public safety, number one for me.”
Councilmembers, including Flowers, have said they were largely kept in the dark on the deal, and want to consider how it might impact the city’s 2024 budget before voting on it.
Speaking of Kingston, Democratic Mayor Steve Noble is facing a challenge by Republican candidate Scott Denny as he seeks a third term. Ulster County voters are also settling a notably testy battle for district attorney. Republican Michael Kavanagh and Democrat Emmanuel “Manny” Nneji have been trading barbs at debates across the county over the past few months. Nneji is the chief assistant DA under current DA David Clegg, who is not seeking a second term, while Kavanagh was the chief assistant DA under former DA Holley Carnwright.
Both men have lobbed accusations that their current or former bosses — and by extension, each other — have mishandled the DA’s office. Kavanagh has particularly lampooned Clegg’s team as being disorganized and short-staffed, resulting in dropped cases in acquittals.
"There have been dozens of cases dismissed because the district attorney's office has failed to turn over discovery," says Kavanagh. "That won't happen on my watch.”
Nneji, meanwhile, says a lot of the office’s woes are the result of New York’s new discovery and bail reform laws. He says Ulster County is doing well, compared to other offices in the region, and contends Carnwright’s team deliberately left Clegg in the lurch.
"A lot of the cases that were dismissed, [Kavanagh] doesn't tell you that those were being handled by assistant DAs left over from [Carnright's] administration," says Nneji. "And because they couldn't handle those cases, they left."
In Orange County, a bitter race for Chester town supervisor will also come to an end. Republican incumbent Robert Valentine is facing Democratic Board Member Brandon Holdridge after turning away a challenge from Republican Board Member Robert Courtenay in the GOP primary. Courtenay is still running Tuesday on the "FD/PD/EMS First" line. Last month, however, both Holdridge and Courtenay called on the Orange County district attorney to investigate allegations that Valentine used his position to benefit his family’s trucking and excavation company, Valcon American Corporation.
Speaking with WAMC, Holdridge admits the timing might look bad for his and Courtenay's campaigns, but he feels a responsibility to call attention to the claims.
"I might not be in office in two months. I might not have a voice, really, to project this issue, along with Councilman Courtenay," says Holdridge. "There's something here."
Valentine did not return a request for comment, but he has repeatedly denied the allegations on Facebook, referring to the calls for an investigation as a “dirty and low political stunt.” The DA’s office has told WAMC it will not comment on such matters so close to Election Day, adding, “If the facts and circumstances dictate, an investigation will be commenced after the election.”
Elsewhere, there’s a three-way race for mayor in the city of Newburgh between incumbent Democrat Torrance Harvey, Republican John Giudice, and Independent Hael Stewart-Fisher. In Westchester County, Democratic Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano faces a challenge from Republican Councilman Anthony Merante. And in Rockland County, Clarkstown Town Supervisor George Hoehmann faces Town Clerk Justin Sweet. Polls close at 9 p.m.
