George Amedore’s campaign for the newly drawn 46th Senate District has raised more than three times as much as his three Democratic opponents — combined.
In a mid July required financial disclosure, Amedore posted a balance of nearly $321,000. He spent about $57,500. The three Democrats vying for the newly created seat posted a combined balance of nearly $87,000.
Amedore said many people are “enthusiastic” and “excited” about his campaign and he’s received a lot of support.
“We have a lot of people that are sick and tired of the same old thing,” the assemblyman said. “The economy is not any better and government is not the answer to create the jobs.”
Some lawmakers have argued the new senate district was drawn expressly for Amedore’s bid, and it holds nearly all of his current 105th Assembly District.
Amedore’s assembly district consists of all of Montgomery County and areas of Schenectady County, including the towns of Rotterdam, Princetown and Duanesburg and a majority of the City of Schenectady. He has represented the district since 2007.
The new 46th Senate District includes all of those areas except it only holds a small portion of Schenectady. Moving south from Schenectady County, the district includes more rural areas of Albany County, all of Greene County and northeastern areas in Ulster County. The new district is home to about 290,000 people.
Cecilia Tkaczyk, Duanesburg Board of Education vice president and former state senate staffer, posted a closing balance of almost $70,000, putting her far ahead of her Democratic challengers in terms of fundraising.
“I have talked to a lot of people and really worked hard to raise awareness and raise money,” Tkaczyk said. “I’m running for senate because we need someone who is going to fight for Upstate New York’s fair share.”
Tkaczyk secured the Working Families Party ballot line, but faces The Hispanic Coalition NY Founder and President Mónica Arias Miranda and Coeymans Town Board Councilman Thomas Dolan in a Democratic primary.
Tkaczyk contributed more than $10,000 of her own money to her campaign and also took out a loan for $15,000. She raised more than $31,000 from 95 individual donors, almost half of them with New York City addresses. She also received over $13,000 from seven political sources, including various political action committees and politicians, six of them New York City based.
Arias Miranda claimed Tkaczyk filled her campaign’s coffers with more than $32,000 in contributions from the “one percent in New York City,” and attacked her opponent in an online video with the same claim.
“New York City donors and political interests continue to pull the strings in Upstate NY,” she said in a statement. “We continue to see party bosses choosing candidates who will protect the status quo and deep pocket donors.”
Tkaczyk said her background with statewide coalitions on affordable housing spurred the out of district donations.
“I can’t control my Democratic opponents and they can say whatever they want, but I am not bashing them,” Tkaczyk said. “We all have to raise money to get our message out.”
Tkaczyk’s campaign said 75 percent of her donations came from contributions of $250 or less.
Arias Miranda took out a loan for $20,000, which accounted for the majority of her campaign’s funding. Other donations she received totaled about $2,000. Her expenses totaled $9,275, leaving her with a closing balance of more than $12,750.
“I think we need to see more integrity from our elected officials. We are not seeing the level of integrity that we deserve as taxpayers,” Arias Miranda said at the opening of her campaign headquarters in Rotterdam. “It sounds like it is really common sense, but we are not seeing that.”
Dolan posted the lowest closing balance of the candidates at more than $4,250, but his expenses only totaled $490. Outside of the $500 in donations Dolan and family members contributed, he collected about $3,650 in donations from 35 individuals contributors.
The Bethlehem Democratic Committee donated $150 to Dolan, and the Guilderland Democratic Committee gave $125 and Cohoes Democratic Committee gave $75.
All of Dolan’s donations totaled $4,755, though he is the only Democrat challenger to not take out a loan. Dolan said he held only one fundraiser, but has some more lined up.
“I have been focusing on my message and not raising money,” Dolan said.
Lately he’s also focused on securing 3,000 signatures to place his No Hydrofracking independent party on the ballot, which he said is an important issue to many residents in the new Senate district. If he’s successful, he would be on the November ballot no matter the result of the September Democratic primary.
“If someone is going to run against the Republican candidate, you would at least need two lines to compete with them,” Dolan said.
Amedore said residents have supported his campaign because they don’t want to see the State Legislature turn blue.
“They don’t want to see all of Albany go back to a one party vote,” Amedore said. “It was a disaster and nothing got done.”
