On Monday, June 17, for the last time before the election, first-term assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha took the debate stage against challenger Gabi Madden in the Democratic Party primary June 25.
The size of the turnout in the Old Dutch Church in uptown Kingston brought the ambient temperature in the nave up to that of a flower-nursery hothouse.
The pews were packed. Everybody was sweating.
Eric Steinman of the Dutchess County-based Hudson Valley Pilot and Dan Barton of Kingston Wire served as debate moderators. Demonstrations of applause and shouting at moments breached the decorum. Enthusiastic supporters looking on tried to outdo each other when it was time to cheer.
Twenty minutes into the debate, a woman taking issue with what she said was unequal time given to Madden — later reported as local muckraker Illona Ross — marched up the center aisle loudly castigating the process. She was taken in hand and walked gently out of the church by a gentleman with a patterned shirt.
A coin toss preceded just over an hour and a half of posturing and speechifying, as the two politicos endeavored to explain their visions, defend their records, and emphasize their successes. The assemblymember touted her first-term legislative accomplishments in Albany, while the challenger shared credit for the legislative accomplishments of ex-assemblymember Kevin Cahill and current senator James Skoufis, for both of whom she had worked as a staffer.
The 28-year-old, Kingston-born member of the Savona restaurateur family, Madden gave her opening speech first, relating that she had gotten started in public service after graduating college in 2018. “Working primarily with constituent service work,” she said, “is what got me hooked on public service.”
She said she was focused on streamlining government bureaucracy and restoring faith in the idea that government could work as it was intended. Madden explained her choice to seek public office by deposing an elected member of her own party.
“I think this community deserves better representation,” said Madden. “It deserves someone that’s going to work hand in hand with them to put forward real solutions to the real problems that we face here.”
Shrestha, a first-term, Nepalese-born Democratic Socialist, won election into her present position in similar fashion.
“I ran in 2022 because I had a disappointing meeting with my predecessor,” said Shrestha, “on a bill called the Build Public Renewables Act, and because we don’t have term limits I challenged him.”
Though the candidates held many positions in common, the philosophies through which they arrived at those positions differed dramatically.
Shrestha repeatedly advocated for the need to change things systemically if the community expected to see local results. She identified the real-estate and charter-school lobbies as having outsized influence in Albany and characterized Madden as a servant of the status quo by association for taking contributions from those interests.
Madden expressed her preference for a district-centric perspective and attempted to discredit Shrestha’s approach as so much pie in the sky, emphasizing the time it would take to see the changes which Shrestha wished to see implemented. She emphasized the need for compromise to see quick results and hammered her opponent throughout the evening as not being concerned enough with local problems and not accomplishing very much legislatively.
Jabs, feints and punches
Madden spent much of the evening sprinkling her policy statements with direct attacks. She threw jabs out of turn, interrupting Shrestha or commenting into the microphone before her turn was up. Madden during a rebuttal called Shrestha ignorant, and drew gasps and angry mutterings from the crowd. She made her most provocative allegations during her rebuttal opportunities. Madden accused Shrestha of benefiting from dark money through a non-transparent process in which Madden accused For the Many, The Tides Foundation and the Democratic Socialists of America of disguising the origin of Shrestha’s donations.
“That sounds like I should get a chance to respond,” Shrestha opined into her microphone.
“I think we need to move on in deference to time,” said Steinman.
In a later answer, Shrestha did manage to dispute Madden’s assertion. “The only group I am accountable to is the people,” she said. “Not a party. Not an organization. It’s not For the Many. It’s not Tides Foundation, whatever you want to name it. It’s people.”
Madden was asked to respond to readers who wanted her to explain the donations she accepted from real-estate and hedge-fund interests. Madden dismissed the question as a distraction and pivoted to criticizing Shrestha’s legislative record.
Before her time was up, she did return to face the allegation. “You’re going to pull at straws to try to expose me for things I’m not responsible for,” she said. “A contribution does not equate to a position on policy. It does not equate to your approach to governance, nor the service you’re providing to your constituents. These realtors, these agencies are also the individuals that are developing new housing. We need new housing stock within Ulster and Dutchess counties if we’re going to address this housing crisis.”
The final pitches
Shrestha took the question about Madden’s contributions as an opportunity to go on the attack, questioning the need to take any donations from corporations. “Both my opponent and I maxed out,” said Shrestha. “We each [received] $175,000 in matched public funds, matching small dollar donations from the district. Why do we need these corporate donations when we have this program? $170,000 is more than enough for an Assembly race.”
After the debate had run its course, the candidates made their final pitches.
Shrestha spoke first.
“I would not have run for office and worked so hard to win if I did not believe that this district I represent is hungry to lead the state,” said Shrestha. “Hungry not just to fight for scraps for ourselves, but actually all New Yorkers. We don’t have to be in the backseat. We can lead!”
Madden ended the occasion by hammering her point home.
“It is not about ego. It is not about ideology,” she said. “It’s not like I woke up one day and said, I’m gonna run for office. I saw a real need and it became a responsibility to serve the people that have helped to raise me here in this community. There was an absence of constituent services.”
Early voting has already begun. Next Tuesday, June 25 is the day of the primary election.
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