The electoral landscape for Kingston’s Common Council races resembles more of a formality than a fight, reflecting the city’s strongly progressive, Democratic-leaning electorate. In five of the nine wards, Democratic candidates are running unopposed. Republicans have mustered only two challengers—both considered long shots by any political measure. In the remaining two wards, one incumbent and one first-time Democratic candidate face opposition from candidates running on independent or alternative party lines.
Ward 1 – Sarah Pasti runs unopposed on the Democratic Party line. The former director of the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art is seeking a second term representing Kingston’s First Ward, which includes Harry L. Edson Elementary School and the largest privately owned apartment complex in Kingston—Stony Run.
Ward 2 – Michael Tierney seeks another term representing Kingston’s historic Uptown neighborhood, the Stockade District and its surrounding residential blocks. A proponent of socialist policies to solve society’s inequities and formerly a tenant representative on the Rent Guidelines Board, Tierney may seem an incongruous incumbent to represent the district’s more than 100 businesses. But he says the secret sauce to his electability is his conscientiousness—he listens to all his constituents, business owners and workers alike. For the first-term alder, this election will be the first test of that assertion.
On paper, Tierney appears favored. His opponent, Republican George F. Wells III, has maintained a low profile—no campaign website, public statements, or financial disclosures. He has not responded to interview requests, and no contact information or photo is available through local Republican channels. Still, having met the signature requirement to appear on the ballot, Wells is officially in the race.
Ward 3 – Marissa G. Marvelli runs unopposed to occupy a seat left open by outgoing Common Council Majority Leader Rennie Scott Childress. Formerly vice chair of Kingston’s Historic Preservation Commission, she runs on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines. Ward 3 is largely residential but includes George Washington Elementary and the soon-to-be-operational mixed-use apartment complex at Golden Hill.
Ward 4 – Benjamin Falk runs unopposed on the Democratic Party line to occupy the seat left open by outgoing one-term Alder Jeanne Edwards. In running to represent Ward 4, with its proliferation of restaurants and shops—a bona fide carnicería, the just-arrived Upstate Films movie theater, the Red Owl Collective, and mainstays like Tubby’s and the Ulster County Performing Arts Center—Falk will have Kingston’s most vibrant and exciting neighborhood on his hands. The flip side of that coin is that Ward 4 is also Kingston’s most socioeconomically stressed, highest-crime neighborhood.
Ward 5 – Teryl Mickens runs unopposed on the Democratic Party line to keep her seat representing portions of Kingston’s Midtown neighborhood, which include the CSX train line, the YMCA and the under-construction Metro Building.
Ward 6 – Running on the Democratic Party line, incumbent Bob Dennison is one of only three council members to face a challenger. Dennison, a retired chief engineer for the Department of Transportation, faces James F. Baker Sr., a career employee of Howmet Aerospace, running on the Republican and Conservative Party lines.
Ward 7 – Michael J. Ham is running unopposed on the Democratic Party line to occupy the seat left open by outgoing one-term Alder Drew Andrews. The district includes the Kingston Business Park, which the mayor is eyeing as a likely location for hundreds of apartments.
Ward 8 – The seat left open by popular Alder Steve Schabot, to represent a vast ward incorporating the Rondout Waterfront, Ponckhockie, Kingston Point Beach, John F. Kennedy Elementary School, the KHA housing of the Rondout Gardens and a generous swath of Sojourner Truth State Park, has drawn two residents to vie for the honor. Dustin Bryant, board member for Keegan’s Army and co-owner of Planet Woodstock Music and the Rondout Roasting Company, faces off with Ruth Katz, grant writer for Upstate Films. Katz is running on the Democratic Party line. Bryant is running on his own party line, Common Ground.
Ward 9 – Michele Hirsch, a four-term incumbent and founder of the Ulster County Children’s Advocacy Network, is seeking re-election on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines. She faces Scott Denny, a former car salesman running on the Kingston United Party line, who previously challenged Hirsch in 2023 and ran for mayor in 2024. Denny, who created his party to promote bipartisan cooperation, made headlines last year for revealing that HealthAlliance Hospital had diverted ER patients due to a cyberattack.
Join the family! 
