New York State Republican Senator Greg Ball has announced he will not seek re-election to his Hudson Valley seat. He also says he will not run for any other office.
Senator Greg Ball’s announcement that he will not seek re-election came via video on YouTube Friday morning.
“But at this time in my life, it’s time now to return back to the private sector, and maybe, hopefully, even find some time to raise a family,” says Ball.
Ball says he remains committed to ensuring his district stays in Republican hands. The Patterson resident says he is sticking with his self-imposed term-limit pledge, and explains why his announcement comes on the later side of this election year.
“But until recently, we didn’t even have a replacement,” Ball says. “With that term-limit pledge, I promised that I would only do three terms in both the Assembly and the Senate. In the Assembly I did four years. That means that I would had the opportunity a) to break the pledge, which was never an option, or to run one more time. Well, that would have left this critical state senate seat open in a presidential year making it much, much tougher for us to maintain that seat. Now with Terrence Murphy in the race, I feel confident that not only are we going to win this seat, but that he will have this seat for many years to come.”
Ball describes Murphy as a fellow conservative Republican. Murphy is a councilman in Yorktown, in Westchester County. The 40th Senate District contains most of Putnam County, a large part of northern Westchester County, and eastern portions of Dutchess County. The Democrat looking to win the seat is also from Westchester, from Croton-on-Hudson. Justin Wagner ran against Ball the last time around. The 2012 race was contentious, with Ball tagging Wagner as “Wacky Wagner.” It was also close, with Wagner getting about 49 percent of the vote. Here’s Wagner.
“I was never running against Senator Ball,” says Wagner. “I was running for the people of the 40th District in the Hudson Valley, and so this doesn’t change what I’m campaigning for and that‘s that I think we need more common sense in our politics. I think Albany needs to do things differently and I think we need new voices to represent the Hudson Valley. And so I wish Senator Ball well, but for me in this campaign it’s full speed ahead.”
As for a potential matchup against Murphy, Wagner says he does not want to speculate.
“Senator Ball just made his announcement, so maybe other folks would come forward. I don’t know,” Wagner says. “I do know though that we’ll have the real opportunity in an open seat to have a debate of ideas and policy.”
For months there were reports that Ball was seriously considering a primary challenge for Putnam County executive against incumbent MaryEllen Odell. Again, Ball.
“Nope, not running for county exec. Not running for Congress. Not running for dog catcher,” says Ball. “What exactly I will do six months from now, I don’t know, continue to be focused on the job.”
Ball serves as chairman of the Senate Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs Committee. Every seat counts in the New York State Senate, where Republicans share the majority with a group of five breakaway Democrats.
