More people voted for US Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Schuylerville Republican, along the conservative line than registered Conservatives in the 21st congressional district.
Stefanik received 17,984 conservative votes, according to certified results.
There were 10,387 active registered Conservatives in the district, as of November 1, according to the state Board of Elections.
Democratic candidate Matt Castelli received 3,776 votes on the Moderate line, an independent voting line his campaign established in an attempt to attract votes from Republicans and independents.
More voters selected what are essentially not options from the above.
There were 4,771 voters who voted in the election but did not vote in the congressional race.
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There were 95 write-in votes.
According to the certified results, Stefanik received 168,579 votes, or 58.2% of the total vote, which includes those who voted but did not vote in the congressional race.
Castelli, a former CIA counterterrorism official who lives in Glens Falls, received 116,421 votes, or 40.2% of the vote.
In other political news from the region:
moving office
State Assemblyman Matt Simpson, R-Horicon, will move his district office in February from downtown Glens Falls to the plaza on South Western Avenue near Cool Beans coffee shop in Queensbury, just outside the Glens Falls border.
The move is necessary because Glens Falls, where the office is now located, was removed from District 114 in the once-a-decade redistricting process.
Glens Falls is in the new 113th Assembly District, which will be represented by Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, D-Round Lake.
Simpson, in a recent phone interview, said the new location will be easy to get to from Exit 18 Northway and has ample public parking.
A state court earlier this year ruled that the Legislature failed to follow proper procedure in the Assembly redistricting process.
The court allowed the maps to be used for the 2022 election, but ordered new maps for the 2024 election.
A proposed 2024 redistricting plan places Glens Falls back in Assembly District 114.
Simpson said his office on the Queensbury side of South Western Avenue, the border line with Glens Falls, is ideally located if the city is added back to the district.
“It’s the closest I can get to Glens Falls and still be in Queensbury,” he said in a phone interview.
‘America the BEAUTIFUL’
New York’s addition to President Biden’s “America the Beautiful” initiative could lead to more land conservation in Adirondack Park, said John Sheehan, a spokesman for The Adirondack Council, an environmental organization.
On December 23, Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation for New York to join the initiative by setting a goal of conserving at least 30% of the state’s land and water by 2030.
“New Yorkers depend on our clean water for recreation, forests to provide habitats for wildlife, and the outdoors for work and adventure,” Hochul said in a news release.
The legislation also requires the state Department of Conservation and the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to develop a plan to achieve that goal.
“The Adirondacks and Catskills together comprise only 22 percent of New York. No one is fully protected,” Sheehan said, responding to a question from the post-star. “More forests will require statewide protection measures.”
Secondary Roads PAC
The BackRoads political action committee, which former local congressional candidate Tedra Cobb established to help congressional candidates in rural areas, scored 3-of-8 in its first round of political action results.
Much of his nearly half a million dollars in contributions was eaten up in operating expenses.
The PAC directly contributed $16,500 to seven congressional candidates in New York, Kansas, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Ohio, and one state Senate candidate in California, according to a post-election report filed with the Federal Election Commission.
The PAC-endorsed candidates who won their elections were Pat Ryan in New York’s 18th District, incumbent Rep. Cindy Axne, D-Ohio, and incumbent Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pennsylvania.
Elsewhere in New York, the PAC contributed Democrat Josh Riley, who lost in District 19, and Democrat Jackie Gordon, who lost in District 2.
The PAC did not contribute to the campaign of Democratic candidate Matt Castelli in District 21.
However, the Castelli campaign contributed $250 to the PAC in October.
Cobb, a former St. Lawrence County legislator, was the Democratic nominee in District 21 in 2018 and 2020, losing both times to Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville.
The PAC had $29,086 in its fund, as of November 28, to start the next election cycle.
budget votes
US Representative Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, voted against the $1.7 billion budget bill, which passed the House on December 23, avoiding the government shutdown.
“The Lame Duck Democrats doubled down on their radical wish list spending nearly 2 trillion taxpayer dollars to further their radical agenda,” Stefanik said in a press release.
Stefanik specifically criticized $10 million in funding for legal assistance for undocumented immigrants.
US Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, voted in favor of the legislation.
“I am proud to vote for this legislation that works to drive innovation, support our most vulnerable communities, create good jobs, address the disease of addiction, and much more,” he said in a press release.
Tonko said the budget bill includes legislation he introduced to eliminate redundancy in the process for doctors to become licensed to prescribe buprenorphine, a drug used to treat substance use disorder.
stay still
Moriah’s longtime supervisor, Tom Scozzafava, had planned to retire after the first of the year.
Now, he has delayed his retirement indefinitely until a plan is finalized to repurpose the former Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility in Mineville, which closed in March, Scozzafava said in a recent phone interview.
“There are probably some in Albany (at the state Capitol) who would like to get rid of me, but I’m not going anywhere,” the Republican joked.
Maury Thompson covered local government and politics for the post-star for 21 years before retiring in 2017. He continues to pursue regional politics as a freelance writer.
