Meeting Democratic Candidates for Assembly 102 and Senate 51

By ERIC SANTOMAURO-STENZEL
FRANKLIN

Democratic candidates seeking their party’s nomination for the New York State Assembly 102nd District and State Senate 51st District participated in a candidate forum hosted by the Franklin Democratic Committee/Franklin Forward at the Museum Community Building on Saturday, February 14. Candidates fielded questions from among the around 20 attendees at the hour-and-a-half-long forum.

Village of Catskill Trustee Thomas Boomhower, activist Mary Finneran, and Village of Delhi Trustee Janet Tweed are seeking the 102nd seat. Former Oneonta City Council Member Michele Frazier and Ulster County Legislator Chris Hewitt are seeking the 51st seat.

The 102nd includes the northeastern half of Otsego County including Cooperstown, and the 51st includes all of Otsego County.

Each candidate said they supported the New York Health Act, a statewide single-payer healthcare proposal, and opposed building the recently-revived Constitution Pipeline. The candidates all spoke about using healthcare as a way to bridge divides and win over independents and some Republicans.

While staying clear of directly criticizing each other, each candidate sought to position themselves as the most able to flip their respective seats, which have long been held by Republicans.

Opening Statements

“I’m a lifelong Democrat, I am an economic developer, I’m a historian, and I’m a committed public servant,” Boomhower said. He pointed to his mother’s work as a public servant as inspiration, adding that public service is about “using our voices to advocatetheir lives easier.”

Working in economic development in Greene County showed him that “our rural communities are resilient and hardworking and innovative, but the programs and systems designed to benefit us do not work for us.”

Finnerann said she was running to bring “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” into practice. Critical of both President Donald Trump and Governor Kathy Hochul on climate and environmental policy, she said, “We must create legislations that not only protect our liberties, but legislation that stops the funding of violence as far as we are able.” She also called out the U.S.’s role in Gaza and Venezuela.

“People should not have to decide between basic needs like food and water, shelter, heat or healthcare because of cost,” Finneran said, also voicing support for the New York Health Act.

Tweed, who narrowly secured the nomination in 2024 over Finneran but lost to Assemblyman Chris Tague (R), said she is “someone who is moving. I’m someone who’s doing things for our community,” citing her recent volunteering for a Rotary breakfast and work as a physical therapist.

“More important than that is why I’m running for assembly, because we do deserve a voice. We deserve that rural democratic voice that knows what it means to live here,” Tweed said.

Agreeing with her opponents that state solutions are not always working for rural upstate municipalities like her own, Tweed called for different funding models that are less reliant on grants, and therefore grant writers that larger communities are able to hire.

“Another reason that I’m running is because of healthcare,” Tweed said, mentioning support for the New York Health Act.

Frazier, who unsuccessfully ran against state Senator Peter Oberacker (R) in 2024, said “This isn’t about me” but the “stories and the people I’ve brought with me along the way.”

Frazier spoke about the difficulty of accessing rural healthcare, recounting a story a man told her of having to travel an hour by bus from Deposit to Binghamton and her own neurodivergent son an hour from Delhi to Cooperstown.

“We need a fighter for universal health care and the New York Health Act so that we can actually make access to health care a reality in rural New York,” Frazier said.

She also spoke about housing disparities she has observed as a realtor and a father she met at a Walmart during the SNAP crisis this past fall.

“I refuse to live in one of the wealthiest states in the country where we have billionaires using our roads, using our schools, using our systems, and not paying their fair share while he is standing there having panic attacks that he can’t feed his own children,” Frazier said.

Hewitt, citing a lifetime of political engagement since a fourth-grade student government win to service on the Rochester Town Board, said his focus is “on regenerative economies where we’re not extracting these resources and making billionaires rich, but giving back to our communities, building main streets that are connected, having transportation that works for everybody.”

A “lifelong Working Families [Party] Democrat,” Hewitt said he was also “running as a professional budgeter, someone who, last year and the year before, created 20 budget amendments in Ulster County, because I push against the executive branch.”

“I want to build a regional District 51 that is strengthening families and helping us grow our regenerative economies,” Hewitt said.

Electability and Opponents

Boomhower said he was best placed to win in the general election “based on my background in economic development, that’s the number one concern that we see on people’s minds right now.”

Finneran said it was because of her decades of experience lobbying for change in Albany. “I know a lot about how the system works.” She also cited her background as a teacher.

“Why me? So, I did run in 2024, I did win the primary,” Tweed said, adding that she has greater name recognition across the district as a result. “In addition to that, I am still in the trenches. I am still working as a frontline healthcare worker. I’m still working as a municipal and elected official.”

Frazier also cited name recognition from her 2024 run. “I was able to raise almost a half a million dollars the last time, and we expect to be doing that.” She also said she is a six or seventh generation New Yorker and lives near the center of the district, which spans seven counties, making her well-placed to campaign across the district.

Hewitt said running for State Senate has been a lifelong dream, and he has been in public service since 2004 serving on a variety of committees and boards. “I’m also an innovative entrepreneur who has real world experience building not only for-profits, but non-profits, and I’ve been invited to speak all over the world over the last five to 10 years about the hybrid models that I built.”

Several outlets recently reported that former Congressman Marc Molinaro (R) is leaving his post in the Trump administration to run for the 102nd seat.

Boomhower said that leaves his mission “unchanged,” and later pointed to his campaign press release, where he said, “The 102nd Assembly District deserves a representative who is rooted in this community and focused on its future, not someone looking for a political landing spot after being rejected by these very voters.”

“Marc Molinaro seems desperate to hold any kind of office,” Finneran said.

“I’m worried about these two,” she added while gesturing to Tweed and Boomhower, laughing.

“It is interesting, and welcome to the race,” Tweed said of Molinaro.

The 51st seat, which is being vacated by Senator Peter Oberacker as he runs for Congress, is also being sought by Republicans Tague and Sullivan County Legislator Terry Bernardo.

Frazier said “One, Chris Tague is friends with Bobby Walker, who’s a known Nazi supporter,” referring to the former Young Republican operative from Cooperstown who was reported to participate in a racist group chat. “And number two, Bernardo actually was chased out of Ulster County because she stole money from the [Industrial Development Agency].”

“Do we want somebody who’s a thief or a Nazi supporter? I have a better argument,” Frazier said.

Hewitt said “I think Terry Bernardo is also desperate to hold any kind of office. Her and her husband have money to keep having her run for things, but she loves to sling mud, and I think Chris Tague does also.” Hewitt said he hopes they spend lots of money on each other.

“I’ve been watching Michele’s numbers over the years increasing and improving, but this is the blue wave we’ve all been waiting for, and we will flip that seat,” Hewitt said.

Working with Downstate

Frazier said collaborations with downstate representatives need to be “mutually beneficial,” in particular as it relates to food and water.

“One of the things I think we need to teach some of our folks downstate is that we’re really smart, and we actually know our communities,” Frazier said.

Hewitt said it is important to “get out of our comfort zones and sign up for different groups.” He described recently attending an environmental conference in Cooperstown, where he learned about proposals to implement “rights of nature.”

“And so we’re working on a law in Ulster County to give rights of nature to the Wallkill River, Rondout Creek and the Esopus Creek,” Hewitt said.

Tweed said, “You have to choose your fights, choose them well.” She said being part of the New York City watershed was an area that directly impacted both upstate and downstate.

Boomhower applauded Michelle Hinchey, his state senator, for taking downstate legislators on farm tours. “She shows them our hospitals. She shows them that Greene County doesn’t have a hospital,” he said, adding that goes a long way toward building relationships that are not antagonistic.

“One place where we have to collaborate is regarding our food and regarding our water,” Finneran said. She also highlighted a bipartisan collaboration between Ithaca-area Assemblymember Anna Kelles and Chris Tague on a “common sense” sewage bill.

Constitution Pipeline

Recently, efforts to build a 125-mile natural gas pipeline through the region, the Constitution Pipeline, have been revived. All candidates opposed the move and said they would use their position to advocate against it.

Approvals happen both at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and with the New York State Department of Environmental Conser-vation. However, pipeline developers have recently argued that because a court found the state waived its right to a water quality review on the last effort, they still cannot block the project.

The State Assembly and State Senate do not have direct authority over the project.

However, Frazier said, “We actually give more money to the federal government than they give back to us. We need to start wielding that authority and that power in these kinds of conversations.” She added that “there is potentially a legal possibility for New York to withhold our withholdings from state employees, instead of sending it to the federal government to hold it so that we have authority to take care of our own citizens.”

Boomhower said that executive leadership has failed New Yorkers “even here in the state, and we’ve seen the governor compromise on a lot of the pursuits in the [Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act] and other environmental regulations” and “it indicates maybe New York isn’t ready to fight anymore.” By electing “leaders who are willing to hold the executive to account,” Boomhower said, “we’ll have better results.”