POUGHKEEPSIE – Dutchess County Legislature Minority Leader Yvette Valdés Smith, a Democrat, will be announcing her campaign to unseat incumbent Republican Senator Rob Rolison (R-Poughkeepsie), Mid-Hudson News has learned. Rolison was elected as District 39 senator in November 2022.
Repeated requests about her potential senate candidacy have gone unanswered. On Wednesday evening, a source revealed that Valdés Smith would be releasing a statement about her run in the next two days. The announcement is said to be made in conjunction with the CWA (Communications Workers of America) and NYSUT, the statewide union representing teachers and others in the education field.
Valdés Smith represents portions of the Town of Fishkill and the City of Beacon (District 16) and is in her second two-year term on the legislature.
The minority leader was born in Syracuse, she previously said and was raised in Puerto Rico until her late teens. She is a former public school teacher and resides with her husband and two sons in Fishkill.
