With a crowded field on the Democratic side, one Republican is setting her sights on a Capital Region New York state Assembly seat.
109th district state Assemblymember Pat Fahy is running to replace retiring 14-term Senator Neil Breslin, a fellow Democrat, in the 46th District. Now, Alicia Purdy hopes to win her first local campaign.
"Pat Fahy stepped down and the seat was vacant," Purdy said. "That was probably my biggest deciding factor. And as I ran against her in the last election, not technically, but I knew that overtaking an incumbent would be hard enough as it was. And incumbents are always hard to overtake. And I actually had no intention of running again. And when I saw that she had the seat was open, I thought it's doable now, probably more than it ever will be."
Purdy ran for the seat in 2022.
"I actually had to step off for personal reasons, right after I earned the line. And I was not able to campaign at all. I didn't lift a finger. I didn't tell anybody. I didn't do any interviews. And come November, I got 10,000 votes, and no one was more shocked than I, because it wasn't my intention to campaign. And I didn't, I just didn't tell anybody. And people showed up to the election, saw my name on the ballot, and they voted for me, because that's how desperate people were for some kind of alternative to the status quo," said Purdy.
She also ran for mayor of Albany in 2021. Purdy says if elected to the 109th seat she'll be an advocate for the people, mindful of Fahy's plans and programs.
"I am completely open to examining all that she's worked on up until this point, I really am," said Purdy. "And I have been examining what she's worked on. So I would, I would put a pin in that and say, I would need a more thorough examination of not just her outward actions, but what I'm looking at is legislation. And so one of the things that I say in my campaign, you'll see in any videos that I do, I say, I'm a common sense New Yorker, running for assembly in the Capital Region, representing people like me, making sure our voices are heard at the legislative level."
Purdy says she's not a fan of career politicians. She favors term limits, but concedes that may not be the best direction for the state legislature. "I've given that a lot of thought, I've sit in, I've sat in the assembly lots of times over the last bit a bit of this season, and realized it really does move very slowly. And I don't think that a two-year term limit would be reasonable to get anything done because of committees and the way legislation moves and the debates et cetera."
Purdy says she would love to tackle what she sees as vexing issues pertaining to legislation and taxation.
"Right now the budget is showing that there's $2 billion being given to illegal immigrants and $1 billion being given to our schools. There's our American schools with our children, our future generation, our next generation. Our priorities are out of whack. So we're going to move in a new direction. And that actually is the theme of my campaign. It's called a new direction, we're going to do a 180. And we're going to reverse course on a number of things and get our priorities straight and make sure that we are prioritizing New Yorkers, taxpayers, the people who live here, and the other things can be worked on. I'm not anti-immigrant. But we need to have priorities that show us that we love New York's veterans, we love New Yorkers, that we care about our education and our children who are clearly suffering and our money needs to reflect that. So that's the direction I'm moving in,” Purdy said.
In November Purdy will face-off against the winner of the crowded June Democratic primary, the majority of hopefuls being Albany Common Council members: Gabriella Romero of the 6th Ward, Sergio Adams of the 7th, Jack Flynn of the 8th, Owusu Anane of the 10th and Ginnie Farrell of the 13th. Two Albany County Legislators are also running: Andrew Joyce of the 9th district and Dustin Reidy of the 30th. Purdy has no fear of the councilors.
"I don't really consider any of them to be viable opponents to me. But on paper, I would say somebody like Dustin Reidy, who is in some kind of high position with Paul Tonko," said Purdy. Reidy has been Tonko’s campaign manager in previous elections.
Purdy urges voters, regardless of party affiliation, to vote in the November election.
"I will say people don't want to show up to vote because they get upset about the presidential election. So at the doors, what I'm saying when I'm petitioning and campaigning is, you have to show up, even if you don't want to vote for a president, then don't. You have to show up because there'll be legislation on the ballot in November, that is going to continue to shape this state. And it needs your voice to be heard," Purdy said.
Purdy adds she welcomes the opportunity to debate the winner of the June 25th Democratic primary.
