Hurley supervisor John Perry, a Republican, topped Democrat and former Woodstock town supervisor Tracy Kellogg in a rematch of their race two years ago, though control of the town board slipped away from the GOP with the elections of political newcomers Melinda McKnight and Peter Humphries on November 5.
“Thirty six years is long enough,” said Sylvia Rozzelle, Town of Olive’s current supervisor and former town clerk on the morning of November 6, when asked her opinion of the previous evening’s vote tallies, which saw a sweep by her party, the Democrats, in all municipal races. “It’s time for new people, for new energy in Olive.”
A write-in campaign by former supervisor Jeff Moran did little to keep incumbent Bill McKenna from re-election to another two years as Woodstock town supervisor. Preliminary results show McKenna received 1796 votes while write-ins, presumably for Moran for the top town seat totaled 462.
Another close election result in Ulster County.
A rollercoaster of an election night, followed by a suspenseful Wednesday morning, ended up with the closely watched race for Ulster County District Attorney in a virtual dead heat, even as Democrats secured decisive victories in two more countywide races and appeared poised to maintain their one-vote majority in the County Legislature.
Kingston Mayor Steve Noble won a second four-year term in office Tuesday, beating out two challengers in what he described as an affirmation that Kingston was on the right track and behind his progressive agenda.
County Executive Pat Ryan of Gardiner coasted to his first full four-year term Tuesday night, with the Democrat easily winning a rematch election with Ulster County Conservative Party Chairman Jack Hayes, also of Gardiner, who was running on the Republican line as well.
According to unofficial results Tuesday night, Saugerties Town Supervisor Fred Costello Jr. fended off a challenge from Councilman Paul Andreassen to win another two-year term, while incumbent Councilwoman Leeanne Thornton won re-election and newcomer Mike Ivino took a seat on the town board.
The referendum question, “Shall the annual contribution of the Town of Gardiner for the operating budget of the Gardiner Library be increased by $46,846 to the sum of $276,076.00 annually?” was overwhelmingly approved by the voters by 1,233 to 523 votes, a 70.22 percent to 29.78 percent split.
This year there were no intra-party contests in local New Paltz elections, and no contest higher than the county level to draw voters in. With Democrats holding a sizable majority, there weren’t even Republican challengers for the two town council seats, making the election effortless for incumbent Julie Seyfert-Lillis and newcomer Alexandria Baer. The same was true for county legislator Jim Delaune, who sailed to a sleepy victory, as did town clerk Rosanna Mazzaccari-Rosenkranse. In contested races, the Democrats beat their opponents handily: town justice James Bacon will be returned to the bench for another term, and Eve Walter will succeed Hector Rodriguez in the county legislature, rather than Donna Smith.
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