Guilderland Republicans presented a full slate of candidates for the first time in a decade, but failed to pick up any seats against Democrat incumbents and newcomers.
Town Supervisor Ken Runion defeated Republican challenger Mark Grimm and secured his eighth two-year term. Runion received 4,855 votes, or 53 percent, with Grimm garnering 46 percent of votes and trailing by around 580 votes, according to unofficial election results.
Runion said he was pleased voters reelected him and he’s looking forward to continue working for the town.
“I have a good record, and as we were going door to door everyone seemed to be very happy with the town, they were very happy with the services we provide, and how the town had been managed over the last 14 years,” Runion said.
Grimm’s bid marked his return to politics after not seeking a second four-year term on the Town Board. Grimm had often clashed with Democratic board members and Runion.
Grimm said he knocked on 9,200 doors and received “a ton of support,” but he was not sure why he fell short on Election Day.
“I really don’t have an explanation for it,” Grimm said. “We are going to have to study the numbers and see what happened.”
Grimm did point to voter turnout as a possible reason for falling short.
“I think there is a difference between how people feel and how many people vote,” Grimm said. “There is an issue with turnout tonight … maybe it was a series of last-minute negative attacks that in many cases I wasn’t even aware that may have depressed the vote for me and for my team.”
Runion said town Democrats sent out last-minute “responses” to residents on Republican campaign literature that arrived at some homes the weekend before Election Day.
“I believe they felt there would be no response,” Runion said. “It contained misinformation about me and about the town, but we obtained those letters on Saturday and framed responses to two of the three letters. … Our letters were not negative; our letters were responsive.”
Runion said he believes those Republican mailers backfired and emboldened voters, who otherwise would have not came to the polls.
More voters did turn out on Election Day this year than when Runion faced a challenger in 2009. Runion ran uncontested in 2011 after Grimm, who was then a Town Board member, withdrew his bid.
If everyone in town had voted, Grimm believed he would have won.
“Too many people stayed home,” he said.
Runion said he believed the race was going to be close from the beginning, because of the town Republican’s campaign tactics.
“It’s probably the nastiest, most negative campaign I have ever seen … it was terrible,” Runion said. “We talked about the things we have done over the last several years.”
Runion did not express concerns that he won by a tighter margin than in his last election challenge.
“In the end it isn’t the margin of victory, it is the victory,” Runion.
Democrats nab every seat
Town Board incumbent Patricia Slavick secured 4,833 votes (26.9 percent) and fellow Democrat Paul Pastore garnered 4,646 votes (25.8 percent). Republican Lee Carman, who is an Albany County legislator, captured 24.6 percent of votes and held 227 fewer votes than Pastore. Republican Mark Livingston’s first bid for office yielded 4,073 votes, falling around 22.7 percent.
Democrat Jean Cataldo was elected town clerk and had 5,800 votes (64 percent), with Republican Jason Wright receiving 3,231 votes (36 percent). Democrat Lynne Buchanan was elected receiver of taxes and had 5,262 votes (58 percent), with Republican Bryan Best receiving 3,737 votes (42 percent).
Democrat Denise Randall was reelected Town Justice with 31 percent of votes and fellow Democrat Richard Sherwood was elected to the newly created Town Justice seat with 30 percent of votes. Republican candidates fell short, with Christopher Aldrich holding 20 percent and Stephen DeNigris at 19 percent.
DeNigris, a registered Democrat, said he plans to become a registered Republican.
“Tomorrow I change parties,” he said. “As I got into this race even more I started seeing that the people that I thought were protecting our interests really weren’t protecting our interests. Now I’ve got to the point where I couldn’t even look at them anymore.”
Runion said DeNigris is a “political opportunist” and had an “entirely different pitch” to the Democratic candidate selection committee.
“He is making comments about the Democrats when he ought to take a look at himself,” Runion said. “[He] made a number of untruthful statements.”
Town Republican Committee Chairman Matthew Nelligan said the party had “great candidates” and he was not disappointed in the campaigns.
“The effort we put forward is making a difference; it is showing residents that the Republican Party is alive,” Nelligan said. “Our message is not going to die down. We are going to continue to raise the issues publicly and challenge the other side whenever there is problem. … I do promise you we will be back.”
Grimm echoed Nelligan’s remarks and said the party is stronger.
“We did make progress. We had a competitive race … and we gave people a choice,” Grimm said. “We haven’t convinced them yet that we are the right alternative. … There are going to better nights ahead for us and I hope to be a part of that.”