The chair of the Clinton County Republican Committee hopes that the discord between she and state GOP leaders will diminish now that the county committee has voted unanimously to support her.
Nine days after D. Billy Jones, a Democrat representing the 115th district, announced he was quitting his seat, New York 21st District Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a Republican, endorsed the Malone mayor to be the GOP candidate. Because it is a special election the chairs of the county committees choose the candidate. The situation devolved as the Congresswoman vilified Clinton County Republican committee chair Jerika Manning and called for her to resign saying she is incompetent and actually planned to run for the seat herself. County GOP vice-chair Jeff Luck defended Manning, accusing Stefanik and State Senator Dan Stec of arm twisting and election interference.
Then, the Clinton County Republican Committee met and unanimously approved a formal vote of confidence in Manning on Wednesday evening.
On its Facebook page the committee says that it is “confident in her ability to lead the selection process for our next Assembly candidate with fairness, transparency. And (in) the best interests of our community...”
The committee also expressed concern that Congresswoman Stefanik had been making “daily calls to committee members, community members, and candidates in an effort to distort the facts and influence the process in order to handpick her candidate.”
Jerika Manning says the unwavering support from the county committee means a lot.
“The entirety of that committee is volunteer, It was important that we were all on the same page, that we got together in that meeting and knowing that they had heard things that were untrue and inaccurate, and they were still supportive of me after we were all sitting together, it meant a lot,” Manning said. “ Equally as important is this process being legal and fair. It was important that I knew that I had the support of the committee, the executive committee and my fellow Republicans.”
Manning hopes that with the committee vote to support her that the tension will be eased.
“I was elected to be the Clinton County Chairwoman, right, and that's what my priority is. And from day one of Billy's resignation to now, I maintained that I wanted the process to be fair and I wanted the best candidate possible, a candidate from Clinton County, if possible. Nothing changed in that regard,” Manning noted. “The statement directly said that the committee trusts me to run the process.”
In the meantime, Stefanik wrote on Facebook Wednesday that Clinton County town chairs, rather than the GOP party chair, would now make the endorsement: “We successfully ensured that Clinton County would fairly consider Andrea (Dumas) and let town chairs decide rather than the County Chair...” Manning says the post was inaccurate.
“It was confusing. And I think it was confusing especially for everyone who was in that meeting. We read through the law. We read through the bylaws. We didn't change New York state election law and we didn't change the Republican committee bylaws. And so the chair is still responsible for choosing the candidate. The executive committee will be involved in knowing who the candidates are and meeting them. But we can't change the law. The law is that the chairs select the candidate,” Manning stated.
The three county chairs will choose the candidate based on a weighted vote, with Clinton County dominating the ratio. Jones has not announced the specific date that he will leave the Assembly and therefore there is not a set date for the special election. Manning says she and the other county chairs are moving forward to find a candidate.
“In the meantime we’ll just continue to hear from candidates, share the names with the other chairs and really work on finding the best candidate regardless of the situation.”
Manning emphasizes that despite the endorsements made by Stefanik and state Senator Dan Stec, a Republican, the county chairs are still seeking candidates.
“No one has been selected yet. Some people have expressed interest. Some people have been interviewed. But this is still very much, though, an open process,” Manning reported. “I think that's where a little bit of the disappointment came with the rushed timeline of endorsements coming out, was just that the process hadn't finished yet. It really hadn't even started yet.”
Manning is confident the dispute will not push voters away from the polls or to choose a different party to support.
“As this became public, the more I saw the Republicans uniting in Clinton County. And I think that that is heartwarming or encouraging to local Republicans, Independents and Democrats to see that,” Manning mused. “I think that the voters were disappointed also to see those statements but I don't think that it'll negatively impact in November.”
Manning emphasizes that she is running for County Clerk and has no intention to run for the Assembly seat herself.
“I've been working very hard on this county clerk's race since February when I started circulating petitions, campaigning really focused on what it is that I'm going to do in the clerk's office. And so I have no intentions of putting my name forward for this seat at all,” Manning asserted.
The Clinton County Government Center will be rededicated Monday to honor former long-time County Clerk John Zurlo, who served in that role since 1996 and passed away last December. Congresswoman Stefanik is scheduled to appear and Manning says she too will participate.
Stefanik’s office responded to a request for comment regarding the county GOP supporting Manning by providing a link to the Congresswoman’s X post repeating a Wednesday post that says in part: “ We successfully ensured that Clinton County would fairly consider Andrea and let town chairs decide rather than the County Chair...”
