The Kingston Democratic Committee met at the city hall on Thursday, February 16, to choose which aspiring candidates should receive the official party endorsements.
With the general election still nine months away and the June primary four months away, the party selection process proved largely a political family reunion. The Kingston committee has 52 members divided into 26 election districts encompassed by nine wards. This group comprises the local political cell through which the Democratic Party dominates Kingston politics.
The voters are not bound by the official endorsements of the party, and contests may still play out in June.
For a party that speaks so often about diversity and inclusion, the membership of the Kingston committee skews old and white. While low pay and long hours are well-known deterrents to the ambitions of young people, the reasons behind racial and cultural underrepresentation within the committee are murkier.
Currently the committee finds itself 14 members short, with vacancies spread across all wards save Ward 6. Chair of the Democratic Committee Donaldson is eager the fill the vacancies, which also present the committee with opportunities to bring representation in line with philosophy. The genders at least have achieved near-parity on the committee.
In his role of M.C., chair Donaldson kept up an easy banter, while soliciting the room for nominations and moving the process along in an orderly fashion.
After each nomination for endorsement was put forth by a member in the audience, Donaldson solemnly asked the room three times for other nominations, and was most often three times unanswered. This was to give the room a chance to offer competing alternatives.
One committee vacancy was filled in Ward 4 with the nomination and selection of Chelsea Villalba, a county legislative staffer who developed a study on food insecurity in Ulster County
Most of the nominations for elected office were without drama, with the longer-serving alders continuing on to seek re-election in November. At the end of the hour-long occasion, the KDC had the slate it would recommend to their voters in the primary.
Endorsements:
Ward 9: Michelle Hirsch will return to be a thorn in the side of moderate policies and politicians, with the party’s blessing.
Ward 8: Steve Schabot, who has served on the council since 2013, will run for his fifth consecutive term.
Ward 7: Michael Olivieri, who in 2021 ran on the Republican/Conservative ticket after being passed over for the Democratic Party endorsement, got the Democratic nod this time around. In exchange he’ll have to yield his minority leadership of one — himself.
Ward 6: After three terms, Tony Davis chose not to run again. There had been talk that Davis, the second-longest-serving councilmember, would challenge Andrea Shaut for alder-at-large, but if so the support just wasn’t there. Bob Denison, former state DOT chief engineer, received the endorsement.
Ward 5: After just one term, Naimah Muhammad has decided to call it quits, leaving the district without representation. Presently the Democratic Party Committee has no candidate to run for the seat.
Ward 4: There was a mild flurry of excitement when building inspector Jeanne Edwards received a nomination to run for the position currently held by majority leader Rita Worthington. County legislator Abe Uchitelle nominated Worthington, while real-estate broker Brian Cafferty nominated Edwards. Both women gave brief speeches. A secret ballot left Worthington with the endorsement.
Ward 3: Rennie Scott-Childress received the benediction to sally forth for a fourth term in this contentious district. He has drawn Republican challengers in every election year since he began, fending off Republican’s Ellen DiFalco in 2017, her husband Joseph DiFalco in 2019, and then Republican Tiffany Christina in 2021.
Ward 2: A secret ballot decided in favor of 28-year-old county employee and tenant representative member of the rent guidelines board Michael Tierney over 18-year-old high schooler Romero Duffy, nominated by Douglas Koop. Tierney, who previously worked in the office of assembly member Kevin Cahill, will run a freshman campaign for the alder seat Carl Frankel will leave vacant after a single term.
Ward 1: Barbara Hill, representing Jeffrey Ventura Morrell’s old turf, will seek her second term.
Council president and alder-at-large: Native daughter Andrea Shaut remains content as president of the common council while she pursues a law degree. Odds currently cast Shaut as mayor Steve Noble’s most formidable opponent from within their party.
Mayor: Chair Donaldson proposed that Steve Noble again be the standard-bearer of the party. The proposal was seconded by Kathleen Mihm. First elected at 33 years of age in 2015, Noble has made the job his. With the party’s blessing, after eight years in the mayor’s office Noble will seek a third term.
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