Primaries: Saratoga Springs, Glens Falls results.
Saratoga Springs and County results. Glens Falls mayoral race blow-out.
Saratoga Springs Working Families Party primary
With just 80 registered voters in Saratoga Springs’ Working Families Party, voting on Primary Day was expected to be light, and at the Saratoga Springs City Center, just six people had voted in person by about 8 p.m., an hour before the polls closed.
Dillon Moran the WFP’s endorsed candidate for Commissioner of Accounts defeated Joseph Levy 10 votes to 5. (The party is abbreviated WOR on ballots and WFP in most campaign references.) In the November General Election, Moran will appear on both the Democratic and the WOR ballot lines.
Moran is the current Commissioner of Accounts and was originally elected in 2021, but had run and lost before that.
The primary included two voting locations, the city center and the County Board of Elections in Ballston Spa. The Dispatch did not reach out to the Ballston Spa location for turnout numbers, and the unofficial results as posted on the county’s Board of Elections website do not differentiate between voting locations, early voting, or absentee voting.
Glens Falls Mayoral primary sees strong win for Palmer over Collins
In Warren County, the race for Mayor in the Democrats’ primary has been closely watched by politicos and others.
Incumbent Mayor S. William “Bill” Collins, in his first term, lost by about 2-to-1 to Ward 3 Councilor Diana Palmer, with Democrats choosing Palmer 694 votes to Collins’ 277. The city, just four-square-miles, has an estimated population of 14,455 and leans Democratic.
Palmer is in her second term as a councilor and is term-limited to two terms. Her name will appear on the Democrat’s line in the November General election.
Palmer ran on a platform that included data-driven decision-making, transparency and focus on core needs of the city. She has been a budget hawk over the past two years, with an eye toward the city’s debt and the long-term “legacy” costs associated with some decisions, especially the creation of some full-time positions in the city.
“It’s not always easy to be the one challenging the status quo or asking the tough questions, but tonight’s results confirm what I’ve always known: I’ve never been alone,” she wrote in a text to The Dispatch. “I haven’t been afraid to speak up, and I’m grateful to have earned the trust of so many who want thoughtful, transparent leadership.”
Collins is expected to stay in the race, and his name will appear on the Conservative line of the ballot.
Despite passing a budget that did not raise taxes this year, a nod from the New York State Conference of Mayors for his work on the city’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative, and an improved bond rating from Moody’s Analytics, the mayor could not hold the party’s nomination.
“Nothing important is accomplished without hard work and it’s very clear that I have a lot of hard work ahead of me,” he wrote in a text to The Dispatch. “I look forward to continuing the public conversation on all the accomplishments of the city, and I will turn my focus now to the general election in November.”
Saratoga County Republican primary
Saratoga Springs did not hold a Republican primary, but elsewhere in the county, the races for local positions were determined:
Ballston Supervisor (vote for one person), with 385 ballots:
John Antoski 207
Eric Connolly 177
Write-in 1
Greenfield Supervisor (vote for one person), with 571 ballots:
Kevin Veitch 288
Daniel Cochran 46
Michael Gyarmathy 232
Write-in 3
Two ballots were not counted since one ballot had an “over vote,” meaning the voter voted for more than one person, and one ballot had an “undervote,” meaning the voter did not vote for anyone.
Hadley Councilmember (vote for two people), with 199 ballots (and 388 votes cast):
James Brewster 117
Tina Ladd 117
Cecil Hayes 77
Freemont Young 77
10 undervotes
Providence Highway Superintendent, with 231 ballots
Randy Hunter 144
David Winney 86
Write-in 1