Editorial of June 25, 2026

Will It Be the Old Guard or the Rising Newcomers?

As we prepare to send our pages to the printer on Tuesday evening, we can’t help but wonder how the primaries are going to shape up.

Some of our political representatives are playing musical chairs, so to speak. In the Republican primary, current Senator Peter Oberacker is running against Alexander Portelli for a crack at Representative Josh Riley, who currently holds the 19th Congressional District seat. New York State Assemblyman Christopher Tague is seeking to replace Oberacker in Senate District 51, but first must get past Terry Bernardo. And here in Otsego County, Mike Stalter, a retired Otsego County sheriff’s deputy, has made a strong push to unseat longtime Otsego County Sheriff Richard J. Devlin Jr.

The Democratic primary is not nearly so interesting. Drew Warshaw and Raj Goyle are challenging New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli for his job, while Thomas Boomhower, Janet Tweed and Mary Finneran have all thrown their hats in the ring for Tague’s seat in the 102nd Assembly District.

Why do we write about this now, on the cusp of the election results? Well, frankly, it’s because we wonder about how effective some of these campaigns will be in the wake of recent scandals, and whether or not those scandals will impact Tuesday’s final numbers.

First, back in October, there was the New York State Young Republicans scandal. Two of the organization’s leaders found to be involved in a hate-filled online group chat were at Sen. Oberacker’s congressional campaign launch. This was just eight days before Politico reported the results of its investigation of thousands of private Telegram messages between leading Young Republicans across the country over a seven-month period.

Oberacker immediately distanced himself from Cooperstown native Bobby Walker who, at the time, was chair of the NYSYR and could potentially have gone on to play a role in Oberacker’s congressional election bid. At the time, a campaign spokesperson said the senator “cut ties with Mr. Walker once the horrific and disgusting text messages came to our attention.”

Then, just weeks ago, a veteran Otsego County Sheriff’s Office lieutenant was arrested on felony drug charges after a months long investigation by New York State Police and the Otsego County District Attorney’s Office—an arrest that quickly spilled into an already heated race for sheriff. Lt. Christopher Fellrath was taken into custody on May 29 following an undercover investigation into alleged drug distribution. State Police investigators claim that Fellrath used his position—and at times, county owned vehicles—while participating in the distribution of controlled substances. Days after Fellrath’s arrest another Sheriff’s Office employee, Sergeant Kristopher Solovitch, was arrested on charges of felony forgery and falsifying business records. Solovitch is accused of lying on evidence submission forms linked to an investigation into Fellrath for alleged overtime fraud.

So we wonder, is the turmoil sufficient enough to negatively impact Oberacker and Devlin? Or will their strong Republican base carry them through another election? Both Portelli and Stalter have run high-profile public campaigns leading up to the primaries. In contrast, Oberacker and Devlin have been fairly quiet, the latter having declined to take part in a League of Women Voters of the Cooperstown Area-sponsored debate due to the county GOP’s “long standing position” against participating in debates the group sponsors, citing a negative debate experience in 2018 and LWVCA’s political views. Since voting results, including early voting, cannot be released until 9 p.m. on Tuesday, as of this writing we are not to know.

In our experience, even detailed pieces published by AllOtsego, in which various candidates over the last several years have answered the same set of questions as their opponents, were not enough to sway public opinion. We have watched as candidates performed badly in these Q&As—their responses being far outshined by those of their opponents—only to prevail in popularity in the end.

So yes, we are very curious about where things will stand as our papers hit newsstands and homes later this week. Will Oberacker and Devlin’s records speak for themselves? Or will they fall to more aggressive challengers, under the specter of last fall’s Young Republicans and the recent arrest of two Sheriff’s Office employees? Have Oberacker and Devlin sufficiently proven themselves to be strong representatives of Otsego County over the course of their careers, or is there a rising call now for change? Will the old guard continue on to the General Election in November, or will it be the rising newcomers?

By the time you read this, we will finally know. And Otsego County will move on accordingly.