Albany County is getting a new district attorney for the first time in two decades.
Scoring a decisive win Tuesday, Democrat Lee Kindlon received 61 percent of the vote, defeating Republican challenger Ralph Ambrosio, who captured 35 percent of the vote. Incumbent Democrat David Soares ran a write-in campaign and finished a distant third after losing June’s primary.
Kindlon spoke with WAMC moments before declaring victory. "We always had a very clear vision on how we wanted to get to tonight, even after the primary victory, I went out to all the places that didn't vote for me, and knocked on doors and met voters and did everything I could to unify the party and to get as many voters to understand my vision for the district attorney's office. And the results tonight clearly showed that that paid off,” Kindlon said.
About 3 percent, write-in votes, went to Soares, who conceded Tuesday night, telling Spectrum News "My hope is that people who supported me over the last 20 years will also continue supporting this office and the people who work there."
Soares lost Democratic Party support after using a state grant to give himself a $22,000 raise he later returned under pressure. The fallout led to Kindlon's campaign promise to audit the DA's office if elected. He plans to follow through.
"I have to make sure the tax dollars are being spent well," said Kindlon. "I think that that's one of the reasons voters chose me. So whether we hire an outside firm to do an audit, or I work with Sue Rizzo, the county comptroller, to get one done, I think it's really important, you know, down to the nickel and dime, exactly where all the money's going, so we can have a clean slate going forward."
Soares came under fire from the local party faithful for his staunch opposition to bail reform and "raise the age" legislation. Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan endorsed Soares’ opponent for the second straight election.
"For four years, I felt like I was flying solo," Sheehan said. "I felt as though I didn't have that partner in the district attorney's office who said, 'I'm going to roll up my sleeves, and I'm going to make raise the age work, and I'm going to make bail reform work, and we're going to do this differently, and we're going to work together, and we are going to make New York state the greatest example of criminal justice anywhere in this country,' that was what we wanted. And I'm sad to say, I didn't have that partner."
Albany County Executive Dan McCoy sides with Sheehan.
"We can agree to disagree, but we still need to move forward for the people that put us in office. And I will say this about David. He was good the first 8, 12 years, and then he lost his way. And Lee stepped up in a time of need for our community, for our residents of Albany County, to be that shining light in the district attorney's office that can right the ship, get the right course of action for the people going through the court system and understand both sides,” McCoy said.
Albany County Republican Chairman Dr. James McGaughan addressed Ambrosio's defeat.
"Ralph conceded at about 11 o'clock last night. He wished Lee the very best going forward. I think Ralph ran a terrific race. If you look at the reg. ratio in Albany County, it's 2.74 Democrats to every one Republican, and the final race was 1.72 to one when you look at the votes. There's only 37,000 Republicans in all of Albany County, and Ralph got over 48,000 votes. So I think Ralph ran a great contest and really helped us progress as a party," said McGaughan.
Kindlon had previously challenged and lost to Soares in the 2012 Democratic primary. He will be sworn in as district attorney in January.
