By FRED DALEY Editor
Voters in the Nov. 4 general election chose new mayors to lead the cities of Hudson and Glens Falls while re-electing incumbent mayors in North Adams and Saratoga Springs.
And there were a few surprises in the balloting for town supervisor seats in a dozen rural and suburban towns across Columbia, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Warren and Washington counties.
In Hudson, Democratic candidate Joseph Ferris narrowly prevailed over three-term in- cumbent Mayor Kamal Johnson, who was run- ning on the Working Families Party line after losing the Democratic primary to Ferris in June. Although Ferris won the primary by 9 percentage points, the final vote count in the general election was 959-918, a difference of about 2 percentage points.
Ferris had criticized Johnson’s management of city affairs as well as the incumbent’s close ties to local developer Eric Galloway and his Galvan company, which has become a major landlord in the city over the past two decades.
Johnson, the city’s first Black mayor, posted an emotional tribute to the city on his Facebook page after conceding the election, describing Hudson as “the place that raised me, tested me, shaped me, and sometimes tried to break me.”
In Saratoga Springs, Republicans tightened their hold on the city government after win- ning a majority on the City Council last year for the first time since 2011. Although the city’s voter rolls have turned steadily more blue over the past two decades, Democratic divisions over policing reforms, racial justice and other issues helped GOP candidates find a path to victory in the 2023 city elections and in a special elec- tion last year.
This year, Republican Mayor John Safford won a second two-year term, turning back a challenge from Democrat Michele Madigan, a former city finance commissioner who had represented the city on the county Board of Supervisors for the past two years. Safford gar- nered 4,318 votes to Madigan’s 4,031.
Republican challenger Jessica Troisi de- feated incumbent Democrat Dillon Moran for commissioner of accounts, 4,328 to 3,895. For the open seat of city finance commissioner, Republican Joanne Kiernan bested Democratic candidate Shafer Gaston, 4,262 to 4,079. And for city public works commissioner, Democratic candidate BK Keramati toppled Republican incumbent Charles Marshall, who’d been ap- pointed to the job last year, 4,361 to 4,019.
Democratic candidates Minita Sanghvi and Sarah Burger won the two open county supervi- sor seats representing the city.
In Glens Falls, 3rd Ward Councilwoman Diana Palmer easily won the mayor’s office af- ter defeating incumbent Bill Collins in June’s Democratic primary. Collins remained on the general election ballot but had suspended his campaign.
In North Adams, Mayor Jennifer Macksey easily won a third two-year term, defeating challenger Scott Berglund 2,024 to 903.
Voters also chose six incumbents and three newcomers from among a field of 13 candi- dates for the nine-member City Council. The incumbents re-elected Lisa Blackmer, Keith Bona, Peter Breen, Andrew Fitch, Bryan Sapienza and Ashley Shade. The new members are Alexa MacDonald, Marie McCarron and Lillian Zavatsky. Peter Oleskiewicz was the only incumbent whose re-election bid was unsuc- cessful.
Columbia County voters chose Democratic candidate Jackie Salvatore to become the new county sheriff. Salvatore, the current under- sheriff, becomes the first Black woman to be elected as a county sheriff in New York. She’ll take over from incumbent Democrat Don Krapf, who endorsed her after opting not to seek a second term. Salvatore easily defeated Republican candidate John Rivero, 13,383 to 9,567.
Incumbent Republicans won three of the four contested town supervisor races in the county. But in Ancram, Democratic challenger Colleen Lutz defeated incumbent Republican James MacArthur, 389-358.
In Rensselaer County, Republican Steve McLaughlin won a third four-year term as county executive, defeating Democratic candi- date Tiffani Silverman by 21,700 to 18,507.
In Saratoga County, voters chose Republican candidate Brett Eby to become the county’s new district attorney after the mid-term resig- nation of Republican Karen Heggen in August. Eby defeated Democratic candidate Robert Logan III, 27,955 to 26,944.
Undersheriff Jeffrey R. Brown will take over as the new county sheriff, succeeding three- term incumbent Michael Zurlo, who opted not to seek another term. Brown, a Republican, defeated Democrat Ryan Mahan, 29,212 to 25,884.
In the four contested town supervisor rac- es around the county, incumbent Democrat Cynthia Young in Malta and incumbent Republican Ed Kinowski in Stillwater each won re-election easily.
But in Wilton, Democratic challenger Toni Sturm bested incumbent Republican John Lant, 2,450 to 2,346, in a rematch of a race Lant had won handily two years ago.
And in Greenfield, Democratic candidate Michael Gyarmathy defeated Republican Kevin Veitch, 1,229 to 1,111.
In Warren County, longtime Queensbury Supervisor John Strough, a Democrat, won another term, turning back a challenge from Republican Councilman Mike Dixon, 3,767 to 3,301.
In the only contested town supervisor race in Washington County, Republican candidate Darlene Kerr defeated independent Kathleen Coffman, 174-115, to lead the town of Putnam.