Democratic candidate Patricia Fahy has won her bid as representative of the newly redrawn 109th State Assembly District by a wide margin.
Fahy beat Republican candidate Ted Danz 35,043 votes to 18,039 votes in the Tuesday, Nov. 6, general election. Conservative candidate Joseph Sullivan received 1,897 votes. The newly redrawn district encompasses the southwestern parts of the City of Albany and the towns of Guilderland, New Scotland and Bethlehem. Candidates were vying to replace Assemblyman Jack McEneny, who is retiring.
“I think our grassroots piece of the campaign with volunteers was really reassuring to the area’s middle class,” Fahy said. “It said first generation folks can still run for political office and still be a voice for the community, and a campaign doesn’t have to be driven by money.”
Fahy is the former president of the Albany City School Board. She is also a former employee of the New York State Department of Labor. During a competitive primary, she said many dismissed her as someone who couldn’t raise the money or get the right backing to win and said it was great to defy those predictions.
The assemblywoman-elect came out victorious after a six-way September primary. County Legislator Christopher Higgins, Assistant Attorney General William McCarthy, former county Executive Jim Coyne, Frank Commisso Jr. and political newcomer Margarita Perez were seeking the Democratic nomination alongside Fahy. Fahy won with 5,045 votes, with Commisso following closest with 2,443 votes. Higgins came up third with 2,221 votes, followed by McCarthy, Coyne and Perez in last place with 445 votes.
During the general election, Fahy’s highlighted topics like education equality, raising the minimum wage, campaign finance reform, creating green jobs and equal pay initiatives. She also called for mandate relief and said she wants to change the education property tax formula, which she said is extremely difficult to understand.
Both of her opponents were looking to better enforce the state’s new 2 percent tax cap and increase job numbers, but had different methods of doing so. Danz and Sullivan also wanted to support local businesses by ending some government regulations.
On election night, Danz said he was discouraged by the loss. He went on to wish Fahy the best in her new position, but said he does not feel she has enough experience for the job.
“This is why we are in the trouble we are in in New York state,” he said. “Voters keep electing the same types of people back into office and then keep wondering why taxes go up.”
Sullivan said he thinks in time voters will not be happy with the choice they made.
“She’s not going to work across the aisle,” he said. “She’s a left of center person and she is going to behave that way in the legislature. She will take her marching orders and that’s that. However, the same could be said for Danz.”
Fahy said she feels it is unjust to categorize her as partisan, pointing to her endorsement of a Republican judicial candidate before the election took place.
“I’ll work with anybody who wants to work with me,” she said.
She added her main goals are now to pass all of the legislation reforms she campaigned on. She also wants to make efforts to increase educational funding, fight environmental issues and help the victims of Hurricane Sandy.
“I want to make all of New York strong. If we don’t work to make all of our state whole, it will reverberate for the next few years,” she said.
In the 44th Senate District race, incumbent Democratic candidate Neil Breslin beat the Green Party’s Peter LaVenia 79,459 votes to 8,232 votes.