Michele Frazier Launches a Second Bid for 51st Senate Seat

By BILL BELLEN
ONEONTA

At 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 19, attendees began to gather at The Depot Restaurant in Oneonta to commemorate the launch of Democrat Michele Frazier’s 2026 campaign for New York’s 51st State Senate District. Following an unsuccessful bid for the office in 2024 against incumbent Republican Senator Peter Oberacker, Frazier is seeking a second shot at the senatorial seat for all of Delaware, Schoharie, Sullivan, and Otsego counties, as well as portions of Broome, Chenango, and Ulster counties.

Shortly before the event kicked off, Frazier sat down for an exclusive interview with AllOtsego. She emphasized her former presence on the City of Oneonta Common Council from 2017-2019 as a signifier of her past experience in office and in understanding the network needed to balance higher and lower levels of government.

Frazier spoke to her priorities of addressing healthcare access and housing in rural New York as a mother dealing with the struggle of finding adequate childcare, and as a real estate agent who has witnessed the effects of the housing crisis firsthand.

When asked about her plans to address rising utility costs and variability, Frazier responded, “It’s a state-level issue. We need to make sure that we have a voice—particularly in our rural communities—on those committees, because there’s a board that approves the rate hikes, and so we need representatives who aren’t getting money from the NYSEGs of the world.”

“And we need people who are then willing to take those large mega corporations on…” Frazier continued. “I do not want to see our billionaires benefit at the risk of our local folks, particularly from international corporations who have no stakes in these local communities.”

Frazier shared how she hoped to have office hours in which her constituents could speak to her directly about the issues facing them and their communities.

“What I focus on are the meat and potato issues, right? The people that are struggling with getting food and the people who are struggling with their bills, and the housing issues and the healthcare issues. These aren’t necessarily red or blue issues. These are issues of our constituents.”

Frazier concluded the interview by expressing her personal attempts to aid families in need during the halting of SNAP funding earlier this month, as well as her confidence in victory, given the vacant seat left by Sen. Oberacker’s recently announced bid for the House of Representatives and shifting demographics of the region. She also welcomed Republican Terry Bernardo to the race.

“I look forward to a challenging campaign of ideas and being out there to really show who is going to serve our community to the best. So I welcome that challenge, and I look forward to the campaign trail.”

As of press time, Bernardo had not responded to inquiries for comment.

Upon wrapping the interview, Frazier mingled with the assembling crowd until shortly after 5 p.m. Joined by more than 45 guests, Delaware County Democratic Committee Chair Kathleen Hayek opened the evening formally by introducing Frazier and singing “Happy Birthday,” which just so happened to coincide with the day of her campaign’s launch.

Following some birthday wishes, Frazier welcomed everyone and recited a tale of the hours of travel between Delhi, Oneonta, and Cooperstown the day before to access medical care for her son, using the story as a platform to proclaim her support for universal healthcare in New York.

She went on to reaffirm a number of the points made prior in her interview, sharing another story of a man suffering from heart palpitations due to the stress of needing to feed his family as justification for taxing billionaires. She also acknowledged the launch of Bernardo’s campaign, comparing personal experience working at a national philanthropic watchdog organization to reported accusations of Bernardo taking money from an IDA and “[running] away from a church fund that she was supposed to be helping with.”

Frazier then introduced Leslie Berliant, recently elected to the Otsego County Board of Representatives as the representative of District 7, who spoke about how to support the campaign. Berliant encouraged people to reach out and invite Frazier to house parties and community events in order for her to meet constituents and get a feel for their desires.

“She is one of those rare people who enjoys driving this immense distance and going to every corner to actually talk to people and is happy when she gets there,” Berliant remarked.

Frazier closed her address by sharing her family’s history of eating at The Depot, the personal connection she felt to the venue, and how she was glad she got to start her campaign there. She then joined her guests and family for a Depot-style dinner.

After the event ended, Frazier shared via e-mail, “The event was a success. We…raised close to $2,500.00 for the evening, plus we were able to collect four bags of groceries to be donated to a local food pantry. Almost all the counties in the district were represented, with some traveling over 1.5 hours for the event. It was truly a humbling way to start what I hope is years of service to the SD 51 people.”

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Darla M. Youngs, General Manager and Senior Editor
AllOtsego, “The Freeman’s Journal” and “Hometown Oneonta”
PO Box 890, Cooperstown, NY 13326