Four primary elections for county legislative seats and three city of Kingston alderman contests are on the docket for Ulster County’s Tuesday, June 24 voting. County legislative candidates and voters should remember that seats on the county legislature are for one-year terms only, if the consolidation law passed in New York is affirmed by the State Court of Appeals in September. Legislative seats won in November, 2025 will be up for grabs again in 2026, when such contests will revert to two-year terms.
There are no Republican primaries on June 24. The GOP did nominate the Democratic candidate, Acting County Clerk Taylor Bruck. But Bruck declined the Republican line. As Republicans did not replace Bruck after he declined their ticket, he will get a free ride in the general election in November. A Democrat did file against Bruck, but, according to Ashley Torres, Democratic Elections Commissioner, Alexandria Wojcik “didn’t have enough signatures” after a court case.
Also running unopposed in November after nary a Democrat sought to challenge her in a primary, is county comptroller March Gallagher. Republicans did not put forth a candidate for comptroller.
Likewise, with family court judge Tony McGinty retiring, and without a Republican opponent, Democrats nominated Lara Olivieri to be elected for a ten-year term.
County legislature
This year, Republicans have a field of 13 candidates for the two-year seats in the county legislature. Democrats counter with 21 candidates, 10 of whom will be elected without opposition to the 23-seat body. Dems only have to win two seats with contested races to maintain their majority.
But there are four June Democratic primaries for legislative seats.
Ulster County Legislative District 2 consists mostly of the Village of Saugerties, Malden, West Camp and Barclay Heights. The candidates in the primary are Nina Schmidbaur, who rehabbed the old Dragon Inn into Clovelea Therapeutic Collective.
Former county legislator from District 2 is Chris Allen, who lost several years back to Joe Maloney. But Maloney quit the legislature, then won a seat again, but is not running this time around.
Ann Peters is the endorsed candidate from Democratic Committees members.
Whoever wins this primary will square off in November’s general election with Republican Ron Polacco, a former candidate for Kingston mayor.
Ulster County Legislative District 6 in the City of Kingston will have a Democratic primary, the winner of which will be a shoo-in to be elected in November, as there is no Republican challenger for the seat.
Democrat Gregory McCollough on the top line is the incumbent, and was also nominated by the Working Families Party.
There’s a new election law in the works that would allow a primary loser to get a window of time to decline a different line, wherein a party such as Working Families could replace him or her, or leave the line blank so as not to split a ticket.
Long-time Ulster County Democratic figure Peter Loughran was endorsed at the Democratic convention where, in a weighted vote, he came out ahead of incumbent McCollough.
Ulster County Legislative District 19 consists of Rosendale and part of Marbletown. This has been the legislative home of environmentalist Manna Jo Greene, the incumbent, who was nominated by the Working Families Party, but shunned by the Democratic Committee at the convention. If she were to lose in the Dem primary, she would have a week to decline the WFP nomination and they could replace her on the ballot.
Cheryl Schneider did not seek endorsement, but filed a Democratic petition and will appear in the primary. And she also filed to be on the November ballot with the People First party regardless of how she does in the primary.
Lindsey Grossman was endorsed by the Democratic Committee over Manna Jo Greene.
Ulster County Legislative District 20 falls mostly in the Village of New Paltz and the primary will see two members of the village board squaring off for the legislative seat though incumbent Limina Grace Harmon is not running for reelection.
Stana Weisburd, a current New Paltz village trustee, is endorsed by the Working Families Party.
Bill Murray, who is also a village Trustee, lost to Harmon by the slimmest of margins in a previous primary. He has been endorsed by the Ulster County Democratic Committee.
Common council
With Kingston Mayor Steve Noble and alderwoman-at-large Andrea Shaut not up for election this year, we’re left in this primary season with but three contests to consider.
In Ward 1, bordered by Washington Avenue and Main Street, Sara Pasti, the incumbent, is endorsed by Kingston’s Democratic Committee, while challenger Chelsea Villalba also has the Working Families Party’s endorsement and line on the ballot.
City of Kingston Ward 3 borders on Route 32, Main Street and Mountain View Avenue and adds a peculiar twist to the primaries.
Hayes Clement, the choice of the Democratic Committee has stated that he’s no longer campaigning, but it’s too late for him to get off of the slate as ballots by mail have been out for more than two weeks. So he’s suspended his campaign for family and business reasons, he has said, but remains in the race. If he wins the primary, there’s no way to get off the general election ballot. If he wins the general, but doesn’t take his oath of office, it goes on the ballot for November, 2026 as an unexpired term and the city would have to use its charter language, according to Commissioner Torres, to fill the seat for the rest of 2026, with the council and the mayor choosing who would fill the seat.
Clement, a former alderman, has endorsed his would-have-been opponent, Marissa G. Marvelli, who also has the nod from the Working Families Party. If she wins the primary, she will be unopposed in November.
In another Ward 3 twist, as there is no Republican running for the seat, Joe DiFalco filed a Conservative Party petition. But DiFalco is not in the Conservative Party and when you file for a party but you’re not in the party yourself, that party has to give you permission to be on their ballot. And DiFalco, who’s been on the political scene for decades, did not get permission from the Conservative party — they did not file the paperwork that would allow him to do it. Even though DiFalco filed his petition, it stopped there, because he’s an independent.
City of Kingston Ward 8 goes up from the Rondout to First Avenue and out Abeel Street. For the primary Peace Corp alum Ruth Katz will have the No. 1 ballot position after being endorsed by the Kingston City Democrats.
Kaira Grundig filed for a Democratic and an independent line. She owns a donut shop — Half Moon Rondout Café, just up Broadway from the Rondout — and is running on the Donut Diplomacy party line.
Tanya R. Garment has the Working Families endorsement and ticket line and thus will be on the November ballot, even if she is defeated in the primary.
This is an open seat, but no Republicans have stepped forth to run. Steve Schabot is the incumbent alderperson. He is not running.
A new filer for an independent line is Dustin Bryant, calling his party Common Ground, with which he’ll be on the ballot in November.
Early voting
Remember early voting. It begins on Saturday, June 14 at three locations — the Midtown Neighborhood Center, 467 Broadway in Kingston; the New Paltz Community Center, 3 Veterans Drive in New Paltz; and the Mescal Hornbeck Community Center, 56 Rock City Road in Woodstock, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. except Tuesday, June 17 and Thursday, June 19 when polls will be open from noon-8 p.m.
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