KINGSTON – Democrat Patrick Ryan won the special election for Ulster County Executive Tuesday night, beating his Conservative opponent Jack Hayes by an almost 3-to-1 margin. The unofficial tally from the Board of Elections was Ryan: 11,707, Hayes, 4,077.
A total of 15,847 people voted, compared to 38,678 who participated in the Nov. 2015 county executive election. With a population of about 180,000, Ulster County has roughly 117,000 registered voters.
Over 25 percent of Hayes’ turnout was on a third-party line. In contrast, Ryan’s Independence Party endorsement earned less than 10 percent of his overall vote. Hayes is the current Conservative Party chairman for Ulster County.
Joined by his wife Rebecca, Ryan delivered a brief 12-minute speech at Keegan Ales, a Midtown Kingston brewery, to about 100 supporters, including Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, Kingston Mayor Steven Noble, Ulster County Comptroller Elliott Auerbach, Sheriff Juan Figueroa, among others.
“We did it, we won; we won!” Ryan exclaimed, with his arms outstretched, to applause and cheers. “We had a pretty decisive result here, and I think that says a lot. I think it sent a very strong loud and clear message, that what happened in 2018 is not an anomaly; it is going to be the future of our county, and we’re going to build on that.”.
“We deserve leadership and government that is going to protect our environment, one of our greatest strengths here in Ulster County and the Hudson Valley, and that’s going to create jobs as we do that,” he said. “We deserve a leader and a government that is going to grow and diversify and strengthen our economy, but do it in a way where we bring everyone with us, where we get to the point where we don’t have 40 percent of the people in the county living paycheck to paycheck, which is the situation now, but we have no one in that situation. That is unacceptable and we are going to continue to work to address that.”
Ryan takes office 30 days after the election results are officially certified. He will be the third person serving as Ulster County executive. Adele Reiter, the acting county exec, took over temporarily when predecessor Michael Hein departed for a commissioner’s post in Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration.
The sudden vacancy caused confusion calling the special election. Reiter, who did not attend the victory celebration, expressed concerns about the county charter language, after being sworn on February 11. Democrats, the larger of the two major parties, essentially clinched the outcome, at their internal nominating convention February 20.
Hayes did not enter the race until March 11 and is believed to have spent less than $1,000 on his candidacy. Ryan thanked him for running a clean campaign and for his many years of public service, as Gardiner town supervisor, county legislator, and with the State Police.
Ryan promised to hit the ground running, with a robust and seamless transition plan, plus inclusive community meetings for each of the 24 townships, within the initial six months of his administration.
He must run in the November general election if he wants a full four-year term.
