Voters across Ulster County have made their voices heard in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, shaping the future of the county legislature. In Kingston, Woodstock, Hurley and New Paltz, candidates have successfully navigated a competitive landscape, focusing on critical issues like affordable housing, environmental protection, consolidation and enhancing community services. As the ballots were counted, the results reflected the diverse priorities and aspirations of the electorate, signaling a promising direction for local governance. All results are unofficial.
New Paltz supervisor primary decided in favor of Rogers
Democratic voters in New Paltz were asked to pick one of two incumbent officials to be their candidate for town supervisor: elected incumbent Amanda Gotto, who’s been in the job for 13 months, or the ten-year village mayor, Tim Rogers. Rogers edged out Gotto 564-480, with the vote difference of 84 representing eight percent of those who voted, or three-quarters of a percent of those eligible to vote.
Voter registration leans heavily Democratic in New Paltz, and low voting rates mean that local elections are often decided by a small number of residents. At the village and town levels in the ’20s, most votes haven’t had more candidates than available seats. As an actual contest, this was an example of something that hasn’t been common in town of late.
Anecdotally, the question of paring down from two New Paltz governments to one was on voters’ minds. Rogers has championed finding ways to either dissolve the village, or consolidate uniquely village functions into the town structure. It’s possible that this vote will presage what’s decided on that count. Rogers hopes to have a referendum in 2026, allowing time to educate members of the public on the details of the plan on which they will be voting.
Whoever is formally elected this November will be serving a three-year term, as part of a transition to electing town positions in even-numbered years. The job will next be up for a vote in 2028, for a normal four-year term.
Anula Courtis wins easily in Woodstock
Anula Courtis trounced her competition in the three-way race for Woodstock town supervisor, while Laurie Osmond placed first among three candidates for two seats on the town Board. The second seat is too close to call.
Courtis received 808 votes, or 60.62 percent of those cast, while political newcomer David Wallis placed second with 362, or 27.16 percent and Erin Moran was last with 163 votes, or 12.23 percent.
Perhaps Moran’s last-place finish was a referendum against the current administration as she was supervisor Bill Mckenna’s endorsed favorite to be his successor.
On the town board, Osmond received 749 votes, or 33 percent. For the town board, Osmond received 749 votes. In unofficial results, Lily Korolkoff has beaten Marcel Nagele by just ten votes, 717-707. With 40 absentee ballots outstanding, that race will be determined next week as the absentee ballots postmarked by June 25 will arrive.
County legislature primaries
The four Democratic primaries for the 23-member Ulster County Legislature this Tuesday resulted in the tentative ousting of Democrat Chris Allen (151 votes) by Ann Peters (241) and by Nina Schmidbaur (167) in District 2, the defeat of Manna Jo Greene (305) by Lindsey Grossman (674) in District 19, and a victory by Kingston incumbent Gregory McCullough (196) over challenger Peter Loughran (122) in District 6. Meanwhile, Bill Murray (272) won over Stana Weisburd (238) in District 20.
The Democrats are likely to retain control of the legislature in November’s general election.
Hurley primary results
Hurley supervisor Mike Boms, highway superintendent Mike Shultis and town clerk Lynne Bailey get to keep their jobs, while an incumbent and newcomer were elected to the town board.
Boms bested former deputy supervisor Pete Humphries 354-282 for the top spot. Humpries, who was endorsed by the Hurley Democratic Committee, had replaced former supervisor Melinda McKnight, who had declined the nomination after gathering enough signatures.
Bailey beat Diana Cline 355-285. Cline will now return to her town board seat, which expires in 2027.
Incumbent highway superintendent Mike Shultis (334) beat John Wiacek (309).
The Democratic primaries in Kingston for alderpersons went to Sara Pasti (177) over Chelsea Villalba in the first ward, to Melissa (233) over the withdrawn Hayes Clement (20) in the third ward, and Ruth Katz (100) over KIaira Grundig (43) and Tanya Garment (13) in the eighth.
Other community winners
In the Olive Democratic primary on Tuesday evening, Kimberly Daley received 479 votes, easily winning the race for town clerk and tax collector over Dawn Guiditta, who had 168 votes.
In the Town of Wawarsing, Samantha Ellis (274) and William Brown (185) won the Democratic nomination for two town council positions. Leonard Distel finished out of the running with 126.
The Village of Ellenville saw a three-way contest for two nominations for the village board. Nilsary Lewis Rivera was first with 121 and Letitia Kentop second with 100. Laura D’Aiuto was in third place with 55 votes.
In Shandaken, incumbent Peter DeSclafani (81) lost to Barbara Mansfield (202).
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