Good news for Dems! The current political situation has activated Democrats locally and across the state. In the Democratic primary held on Thursday, September 13 energized Democrats came out in historic numbers. Democratic turnout more than doubled across the state as members of our party chose statewide Dem candidates for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General as well as members of the State Assembly and Senate. Locally, here in Gardiner, we chose candidates for County
Juan Figueroa for Sheriff
Sheriff and State Senator. You can find unofficial election results for Ulster County here.
Our two GDC-endorsed candidates won easily:
- For Sheriff, Juan Figueroa defeated Paul Van Blarcum by a greater than 4 to 1 margin. Van Blarcum was nominated by the Republicans so he will face Juan in November running on the Republican line. If Juan had not won, there would have been no contest in November, as Van Blarcum would have been unopposed. A tremendous effort by Juan’s campaign paid off handsomely. The vote in Gardiner was 588 for Juan and just 68 for Van Blarcum. Now on to November which will be a real contest. We all need to maintain the level of energy, enthusiasm, and volunteerism to beat the incumbent in the general. If you are interested in volunteering for Juan’s campaign, visit his website and sign-up here. Also, elections are expensive and every dollar helps. Donate to Juan’s campaign by clicking here.
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Jenn Metzger for State Senate
For State Senate 42nd District, Jen Metzger won handily with 61% of the vote to 39% for Pramilla Malick district-wide (Ulster County gave Jen a whopping 83% of its vote and in Gardiner, she won by a more than 7 to 1 margin). Jen is well-placed to take the Senate seat of the retiring John Bonacic. She will face Orange County Clerk Ann Rabbit in November. Again, we need to maintain the energy and enthusiasm through the general election. Volunteer for Jen by visiting her website here. Donate to her campaign by clicking here.
Turnout, Turnout, Turnout
But the real story is in the aforementioned historic turnout by Democrats in this primary.
As noted above, Dem turnout more than doubled. In Gardiner, Dem turnout approached 50%, an unheard-of level of voter participation for any non-presidential election year.
Bring on the Blue Wave!
And here are the historical numbers for Ulster County:
Sept 2010: 4,360
Sept 2014: 7,005
June 2016: 6,835
Sept 2016: 4,727
June 2018: 14,259 *
Sept 2018: 16,208 * (and more to come with absentees/affidavits)
Someone asked me today what the context was for these numbers. Was there significant population growth in the county recently? Could demographic changes account for these numbers? My response was: “The context stands 6 feet, 3 inches, wears a long red tie and can’t stop saying stupid things.” Thanks, Trump! On to November and hopefully a blue wave.
Vote Delgado for Congress in November!
Aside from the two races above, by far the most important race is for NY’s 19th Congressional District where incumbent Republican John Faso is facing Democrat Antonio Delgado. Faso has distinguished himself during his first 2-year term by voting with the Trump position 90% of the time, including on a deciding committee vote to kill Obamacare and cause 60,000 of his constituents to lose healthcare coverage. Faso is in the pocket of the billionaire Mercer family that funds Breitbart News and Steve Bannon.
Antonio is a charismatic and accomplished lawyer and Rhodes Scholar who grew up in upstate New York and now lives in Rhinebeck. He represents our Democratic values of hard work, equal opportunity, universal health care, and good government working to help the people have been left behind by our current economy.
It is noteworthy that Antonio has been attacked by Faso and the Republicans for appearing, years ago, in a rap video. With this approach, Faso and the Republicans are blowing the old, racist, Republican dog whistle that has been getting Republicans elected for a generation. Well, this time it won’t work. If we can maintain Dem enthusiasm in November that we just showed in this primary, Antonio will be our next Congressman. The latest polling has Delgado ahead of Faso by three points!
Still, there is much work to be done. We need to not rest on our primary laurels and push ahead to November with unrelenting hard work knocking on doors, making phone calls, showing up at events, and opening our wallets to fund the Delgado for Congress campaign. To volunteer for Antonio, please visit his website here. To make a donation to the campaign, please click here.
Together we will take back our country!