Matt Simpson’s path to the New York State Assembly opened up about six years ago. Republican state Sen. Betty Little was retiring, and Dan Stec was running to replace her. That meant Stec’s seat representing the 114th Assembly District was up for grabs.
Simpson had spent years in local politics and said a few folks encouraged him to run.
“So I thought about it overnight and the next morning I said, you know, I’m very much interested," Simpson said. "I’ve had a great experience so far being supervisor of Horicon for seven years.”
So he ran for the Assembly and defeated his Democratic challenger by more than 14 points. That was back in 2020.
Now he’s facing his first Democratic challenger since then in John Gunther. Gunther’s idea to run in this race was sparked two years ago, when President Donald Trump was reelected.
“I went to sleep that night and I woke up the next morning and thought, you know, I can do something about this," Gunther said. "I’m not just going to complain; I may run for public office.”
Gunther is in his late 70s; he’s from southern Washington County. He spent nearly five decades running a toy-making business that employed about 50 people.
Gunther said that experience exposed him to some of the key challenges that folks face in the North Country.
“I know, as a small employer, how difficult it was to provide decent healthcare for your employees," he said. "It was so expensive back when I was in business and it’s only gotten much worse.”
Gunther is advocating for the state to pass the New York Health Act. It would create a single-payer system with the goal of providing universal health care to all New Yorkers.
As for Matt Simpson, he’s focused on another financial stress in people’s lives.
“Top of everybody’s mind is affordability, and there isn’t anyone that’s not experiencing the challenges of high energy bills,” he said.
The price of heating oil is now more than $6 a gallon in New York. That’s up about 60% since last year, according to state data.
Oil prices have surged since the U.S. went to war with Iran, but Simpson said New York has other ways of lowering energy bills, like investing in natural gas. He also thinks the state should get rid of green energy subsidies for solar and wind projects.
“They wouldn’t be building them absent of those taxpayer subsidies," Simpson said. "That’s a problem because we’re creating a higher cost of energy with the hopes of having lower costs down the road. There isn’t a clear path.”
Simpson has also been critical of the state’s push for school districts to transition to electric buses. Many schools in the 114th district are in rural regions with long bus routes and cold winters.
The state has given out hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies for that effort.
“Every dollar that was spent toward that is a dollar that could have been spent towards educating our kids," Simpson said. "It should have been spent in our classrooms first.”
Schools in the 114th District are also struggling with declining student enrollments, which Gunther has seen firsthand in Washington County. After he retired from his toy-making business, he worked as a substitute teacher.
”I think we have got to start consolidating some of these schools, maybe building new central schools," Gunther said. "It may be a longer commute for some of the kids, but I think that’s what needs to happen.”
Gunther has also been a vocal opponent of battery energy storage sites, like the one proposed in Ticonderoga. Those projects are part of the state’s efforts to stabilize the energy grid, but Gunther is skeptical of the business side.
“I think there are a lot of companies jumping on the bandwagon because they see it as a profit center, a cash cow,” he said.
The 114th District leans overwhelmingly to the right. After redistricting a few years ago, the more liberal pockets like Keene and Glens Falls were removed from the district. Now there are about 80,000 more Republicans than there are Democrats, a fact that Gunther is well aware of.
“I realize that the odds are stacked against me. However, I’m energized by this campaign," he said. "If I don’t win, at least I feel like I’m bringing people’s attention to these issues, so my work is not in vain.”
For Simpson, his motivation in Albany is to give his constituents access to a better life. Before getting into politics, Simpson ran his own drywall business for three decades and raised a family in the area.
“Really, I want people to have the opportunity that I had," he said. "My goal was to live in the Adirondacks and I have to pinch myself at how fortunate I’ve been with my life and the opportunity that’s been afforded [to] me.”
Voters have already started mailing in their ballots in New York. Early, in-person voting begins Saturday and Election Day is Tuesday.