After a close Democratic primary race for Bethlehem Town Board, Bill Reinhardt has won the general election with a significant lead over his opponents.
Reinhardt beat Republican candidate Jeremy Martelle 8,532 votes to 5,760 votes. Former Supervisor Jack Cunningham, who ran against Reinhardt in the primary, stayed on the ballot as an Independent candidate but did not campaign past the primary. He came in third with 1,762 votes.
“I think we ran a positive campaign,” said Reinhardt. “We spoke about the approach we wanted to take and what we wanted to accomplish, and I think voters responded to that.”
Reinhardt ran in September as a member of the Bethlehem Reform Democrat movement, which also fielded a number of candidates for the town Democratic Committee. The movement was formed in April by several residents claiming to be frustrated with how the committee functioned and who wanted it to become more inclusive.
The movement won 25 committee seats in September, leading to the election of a new Town Democratic Committee chairman.
“I am supremely appreciative of all the help I got from all of the folks who helped me,” Reinhardt said. “This was a a real team effort and not something I could do on my own. I feel humbled by the outpouring of support from the voters.”
Reinhardt will be filling the seat currently held by George Lenhardt, who was appointed. The seat was left vacant after Mark Jordan won his bid for town justice and left the Town Board at the beginning of the year. This means Reinhardt will hold the position for just one year.
Martelle said he “would entertain the idea of running again.”
“I think our message is a good message,” he said. “Being a fiscal conservative, our town needs that. An 8 percent tax increase does not benefit anybody, and I would consider running next year.”
Martelle said he was proud of his campaign and doesn’t know what he could have done differently. He now hopes the all-Democratic board will work across the aisle for the good of the town.
“That’s one of the things we tried to highlight with our campaign, is that one-party rule doesn’t work in town government,” he said.
Supervisor John Clarkson, who backed Reinhardt throughout his campaign, said he was proud of the margin by which the Democrats won.
“Bill did a tremendous job going door-to-door, which is what I think did it,” he said. “People respond to a straightforward, sophisticated candidate, they don’t want simple answers in Bethlehem and I think that’s a very, very good thing.”
Reinhardt said come January he will be looking to revisit the town’s comprehensive plan and do more to support the town’s small businesses. He said long-term budget planning will also be a priority.
“The budget is going to be a multi-year effort. It’s not going to be ‘fixed’ just in one year and there are several things that will take time to implement,” he said.