“With the release of finalized State Senate maps that aggressively carved up our existing district, my family, team, and I found ourselves with an incredibly difficult decision to make over the past two weeks. We considered every available option to determine how best to continue serving the people of the Hudson Valley, and I am grateful to the many colleagues and partners who reached out to offer their perspectives and encouraging words.
“Over the past ten years, I’ve dedicated my professional life to representing the needs, concerns, and hopes of local communities in Albany. As an Assemblyman, and now as a two-term Senator, I’ve gone to bat for Orange County residents, in particular, time and time again. Be it fighting against moneyed corporate interests, repeatedly voting against new taxes, standing up to my own party to address flaws within bail reform, helping to orchestrate the largest middle-class tax cuts in more than 70 years, securing historic funding for our infrastructure and schools, or assisting our constituents with a variety of complex issues, my team and I have worked tirelessly to earn the trust of – and do right by – local communities.
“I’ve spent virtually all of my life in Orange County. My team has grown to know and deeply love our Orange County communities. My wife and I have been blessed to raise our daughter here. With all that in mind, some of our options would have required uprooting my family, a prospect that proved to be deeply unsettling on a personal level. Conversely, choosing not to move prior to the election would have been disrespectful to those I’d be seeking to represent.
“The newly-drawn 42nd District, which includes almost all of Orange County except Newburgh and Montgomery, represents the most suitable place to continue my service from personal and professional points of view. While it is with a heavy heart that I will no longer represent Newburgh, Montgomery, North Rockland or southern Ulster County, I am ready and raring to continue fighting for Orange County.
“Thanks to Albany political hacks who don’t believe in bipartisanship, Senator Mike Martucci and I find ourselves in the same district. Mike is a friend who I’ve worked across the aisle with over these past two years and, given my respect for him, I pledge to run a civil, positive campaign in our race. Voters will have the opportunity to choose who they feel is best equipped to represent them in the State Senate.
“At a time of searing political division at the national level, I’ve been humbled to earn the consistent support of Democrats, Republicans, and independent voters alike. The impetus for their support is simple: our Orange County neighbors know I have always, and will always, fight for them and their families. I look forward to proving once again why my team and I are the strong voice Orange County needs right now.”