On November 7, 2023, New York residents went to the polls to cast their ballots in local elections. Positions up for election included town supervisors, council members, mayors, clerks, trustees, and others.
Orange County is known to be a relatively “purple” county, meaning that the ratio of Democrat to Republican voters is relatively equal. This meant that there were several high-stakes and close elections with varying outcomes, specifically in the Monroe-Woodbury area, as many only won by small margins. Notably, Monroe’s newly elected town justice, James McKnight, was unopposed and ran as a Republican candidate, receiving 2098 votes while 1070 voters left the ballot blank without voting for him.
In Monroe, many of the vacant positions had one candidate running without an opponent. However, there were four candidates running for town council, with Monroe-Woodbury alumna Maureen Richardson, a Democrat, and Sal Scancarello, a Republican, winning the two vacant seats with 55 percent of the vote and 47 percent of the vote respectively. This result leaves the town of Monroe with a bipartisan council.
Woodbury saw a largely Republican slate sweep between the town supervisor, town council, and village mayor seats. In the supervisor election, Kathryn Luciani beat current Supervisor Thomas Burke with 57 percent of the vote. The town council saw its two primary Republican candidates win by significant numbers over their one democrat opponent.
In a Facebook post on November 8, Luciani, Calore, and Luongo said, “We can’t thank you all enough…We did it and now hope we can bring the community back together as one.”
There were, however, two Democrats who won their elections in Woodbury: Matthew Fabbro and James Freiband, who ran for village trustee.
A particularly tense election was the supervisor’s race in the Town of Chester, where current councilman Brandon Holdride ran against incumbent Robert Valentine. While the election was predicted to be close between the two candidates, Holdridge ended up winning with nearly 60 percent of the vote alongside his running mates Larry Dysinger and Tom Becker for the town board.
“I am humbled by the overwhelming victory the residents of Chester have given my running mates and I,” Holdridge said when asked about his thoughts on the outcome of the election. “Orange County voted in candidates from all over the political spectrum.”
“Tuesday’s elections served as a mandate for progression in many areas of the county…however, there is still much work left undone,” said Paxton Honerkamp, vice president of the Young Democrats of Orange County and Warwick Valley High School senior.
