Two people looking for new jobs are County Legislator James O’Donnell, running for Congress
and County Clerk Annie Rabbitt, running for
State Senate
CAMPBELL HALL – Orange County Republicans say they are ready for the “blue wave” this coming midterm election and have complete confidence in their newest slate of candidates.
During the Orange County Republican Committee nomination caucus Thursday evening, committee Chairwoman Courtney Canfield-Greene said this coming election will be significant for the party.
“I think this year is most important, more than ever before,” said Canfield-Greene. “We have so many people saying, ‘The blue wave. The blue wave’; but, what I’m saying is, we have such a great energy of red in the Hudson Valley that I’m proud to be a part of and I know that we’re going to be so successful this November,” she said.
The race for maintaining majority within the State Senate is a major focus of the party.
Orange County Clerk Annie Rabbitt, who was nominated for the 42nd District Senate, one of the crucial seats for the Republican Party, said maintaining Republican majority in the senate is a matter of fiscal health for the region.
“Everyone’s worried about fiscal concerns, so you can have great Democrats; but, when you get to Albany, you’re a New York Democrat,” said Rabbitt. ” You’re not an upstate Democrat. It’s very hard to have that viewpoint. The Republicans that have controlled the senate for so many years have controlled a fairer amount of money into our district.”
Rabbitt was unanimously endorsed by the Orange and Sullivan Republican committees, as well as endorsed by incumbent John Bonacic, who is retiring at the end of the year.
Also nominated for State Senate was Thomas Basile, who echoed Rabbitt’s concerns about fiscal health and said his policy will be to focus on the cost of living in the region that he feels has been neglected by senate democrats.
“People here are struggling to be able to afford to live here, to raise a family here, to retire here, to run a business here and too often Albany makes it harder for them to do that,” said Basile. “This is really a campaign about affordability and about standing up for taxpayers who are being driven out of our communities, and out of our state, by a government that taxes too much and spends too much.”
The committee nominated three candidates for Assembly: incumbent Karl
Brabenec for the 98th District, Colin Schmitt for the 99th District, his
third shot at the seat, and Brian Miller for the 101st District, along
with two county nominations, incumbent Sheriff Carl DuBois and incumbent
Surrogate Court Judge Robert Onofry.
