In Kingston’s most closely-watched race, newcomer Philip Erner defeated established political leader David Donaldson by a significant margin.
The Ulster County Legislature will have to find a new Chairman, as Donaldson now must step down from his leadership role. Erner, a community farmer, won 48% of the vote, while Donaldson received 20%. Challenger Suzanne Timbrouck, a Republican, amassed 31% of the vote. Erner came a long way since upsetting Donaldson in the Democratic primary by just 13 votes.
Of the four alderman races up for grabs, Democrats grabbed three seats. In Ward 1, Democrat Barbara Hill defeated Republican Steven Peruso in the closest Common Council contest. She received 55% of the vote with Peruso coming in at 45%.
Ward 2 voters elected sex-positive writer and longtime local Carl Frankel to represent them, giving him 61% of the vote. Michael Locasio, the Republican candidate, won 38% of the vote.
In Ward 3, four candidates vied for the Common Council seat. When the ballots settled, incumbent Majority Leader Reynolds Scott-Childress was victorious with 58% of the vote. The other three candidates split the vote thusly: Tiffany Christiana (32%), Brad Will (8%), and Joseph DiFalco (2%).
Ward 7 was the only win for a Republican in the alderman race, with Michael Oliveri defeating Democrat Laura Nordstrom in a fairly close contest. Oliveri got support from 354 voters (54%) while Nordstrom got 300 votes (46%).
On the flip side of the ballot, all but one proposition passed with a ‘yes’ vote. County voters were very narrowly denied changes that would have allowed same-day voter registration, with the proposition being defeated by less than a half-percent margin. ‘No’ votes tallied 20,555 (50.15%), just edging out the ‘yes’ votes at 20,431 (49.85%).
The passing of the other five ballot propositions means forward movement on redistricting reform, environmental protection, and no-excuse absentee ballot voting. The more obscure propositions involving civil court claim amounts and County payroll management also were supported by voters.
Elsewhere across Ulster County, democrats won big, and now only seven Republicans remain in the 23-member legislature.
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