Eight counties in and around the Capital Region, including Saratoga, Albany, and Schenectady, are set to hold mid-week elections for a handful of positions.
But one of the few contested races in the region is for mayor of Waterford, a Saratoga County village with a little over 2,000 residents. As longtime Mayor Bert Mahoney will be ending his 28-year tenure in the office at the end of the month, two Republicans are vying to fill his role. They are chief operator of the village’s wastewater treatment plant, Craig Falcone, and program manager Michelle Cleary.
Falcone, who secured an endorsement from local Republicans in February, says he stepped up to run only after Mahoney announced he would not seek reelection.
Cleary, who is running on the independent Bright Future party line, tells WAMC she wanted to give voters a choice for the first time in three decades.
“I did a lot of soul searching when I realized that we were not going to have a new candidate for mayor and I felt that I shouldn’t sit around and complain for another four years. I needed to put my money where my mouth was, basically. And I also assessed the background I have and thought I could bring something beneficial based on the different work experiences that I’ve had,” said Cleary.
She says she never envisioned getting into local politics.
“We are heading towards change no matter which one of us wins. We’re going to have a new mayor and that’s really exciting for our village,” said Cleary.
While the race in Waterford has drawn two candidates, many smaller municipalities struggle to see any candidates step forward to fill important public service roles.
The Village of Fort Ann has about 600 residents. Current Village Mayor Jon Lashinsky is halfway through his two-year term.
“I mean it is just in general tough to find people to get in as public servants. We’re fortunate that we did have someone step up this year who was interested. By the time we were able to get everything together and do it she wasn’t able to be on the ballot due to time frames. So, she’s going out as a write-in candidate in the community,” said Lashinksy.
Lashinksy says Kathleen White is running a write-in campaign for an otherwise uncontested village trustee position.
Lashinsky, who also serves as the village’s fire chief, says he wasn’t convinced he wanted to run for mayor until just days before the election in 2025.
“You have a very small pool of people who are willing to volunteer or willing to get into public service. So, for small communities like us it’s really tough, especially when you have two different forms of local government existing within each other. So, just trying to find people is tough in general and when you do that it makes it even more difficult. The cost of living and the cost of everything in today’s modern age, sometimes we really have to take a long, hard look at what’s best for the community and are we even able to sustain these small villages within these towns even,” said Lashinksy.
Erica Smitka is the executive director of the League of Women Voters of New York State. She says a decline in civic engagement in smaller communities isn’t new.
“We have in recent years seen this issue get a bit worse whether that’s just seeing one candidate running, and it’s typically an incumbent or we’re seeing a seat for which no one runs that might be left open for months or longer. It’s a huge red flag for about how people engage in their community and, honestly, about their understanding of politics and the importance of being civically engaged and the impact politics can have on your everyday life,” said Smitka.
According to Ballotpedia, of the nearly 77,000 elections covered by the organization, 70% were uncontested in 2024. On average, 58% of elections covered by Ballotpedia between 2018 and 2023 were uncontested.
Smitka says it’s vital that local residents stay engaged politically.
“So when there is that choice there and people really feel like their vote has an impact it means people turn up more. It means they are more likely to hold candidates accountable for their work and that means they are more likely to see the results or the change that they want to see,” said Smitka.
Other contested local races in the region include an election for Ravena, Catskill, Corinth, and Victory trustee seats.
