The campaign for an unexpired term on the Schenectady City Council will remain a three-way race this fall.
Despite losing last month’s Democratic primary to Justin Chaires, Rachel Ward has decided to continue her campaign on the Conservative Party line, and Sarojanie Ibrahim is running as a Republican.
Chaires was appointed to fill the seat after Councilman Joe Mancini resigned last year to move out of the area, but the city Democrats and Democratic Mayor Gary McCarthy chose to endorse Ward in the primary.
Chaires won that month’s election by 54 votes out of more than 2,500. Ward then had until this Friday to decide whether to appear on the ballot under the Conservative Party line. She chose to continue her campaign, according to the Schenectady County Board of Elections.
Ward is a first-time candidate who works as an attorney for a state housing agency. She previously worked for city government in the corporation counsel's office. Meanwhile, Chaires is a perennial candidate who has previously run for Congress, state Assembly, and mayor.
Chaires is a teacher who is also active in the local NAACP. But his resume was called into question by the local party establishment during this year’s primary campaign, including accusations of lying and embellishing. His service on Schenectady’s community police review board was also disputed, but Chaires denies that he lied or embellished anything.
The mayor has sparred with members of the council throughout his current term. Tensions between Chaires and McCarthy began when the council first tapped him to replace Mancini. McCarthy tried to veto Chaires’ appointment, and the mayor has maintained that the appointment wasn't legal.
“They danced around with it, appointed him in what was the most convoluted manner that I've seen in all my years here at City Hall, and that was the thing that I vetoed,” McCarthy said. “It was just, I think, a poor display of local government.”
The mayor took that issue to court but lost. So, Chaires has remained on the council.
McCarthy told WAMC this fall’s election isn’t about policy, but rather about personality and ability.
“It's just some of the council members have been posturing again over personalities where people don't like each other,” McCarthy said. “There's no policy debate. You don't articulate stuff, and then are unable to actually move forward and change anything.”
McCarthy hasn’t backed Ward outright for the November election, but he also hasn’t called on her to stand down.
Ward has not responded to a request for comment.
Democrats make up almost two-thirds of all registered voters in Schenectady County, and the City Council is entirely Democratic. Frank Salamone, chair of the Schenectady County Democrats, said he isn't worried about a three-way race negatively impacting his party’s chances in November.
“I would think that if an individual was appearing on the Conservative line, that it will reinforce the Democratic Party, because there will be the potential for splitting Republicans among the Republican line and the Conservative line,” he said.
It’s still to be determined if Ward will actively campaign. The most recent posts on her campaign Facebook page are about her conceding to Chaires on primary night, and then a selfie and two posts about collecting her yard signs.
Salamone said Chaires is the party’s candidate and is calling for unity.
“There are very serious issues facing our friends and neighbors, [including] the affordability crisis. It needs to be combated, and the only way that we're going to do that is by having a unified Democratic Party working to have solutions,” Salamone said.
