Former city Mayor Valerie Keehn is out. City Supervisor Joanne Yepsen and Michael Russo, an ex-local union leader, want in.
Saratoga County Democrats emerged from two days of meetings on Saturday with a different lineup for the 43rd District state Senate seat now held by retiring Sen. Joseph Bruno.
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Russo, who now works as district officer for U.S. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-Greenport, said in a brief phone interview Saturday that he, too, started circulating petitions to join the race.
"I am strongly considering (a run)," he said.
He and Yepsen need 1,000 signatures each from enrolled Democrats in the district by July 10 to challenge the only Democrat officially in the race -- Rensselaer County Democrat Brian Premo of Brunswick -- in a September primary.
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I'm under a lot of pressure to call a county meeting to reconvene and reconsider this race," Saratoga County Democratic Chairman Larry Bulman said. "We're not going to do that. We're just going to move forward and good Democrats are going to do what good Democrats are going to do."
I'm hearing that Russo is definitely in and should be formally announcing soon. That gives us a minimum of three Democrats running for Uncle Joe's seat, a very good sign. I had assumed that this seat would be a real tough nut to crack for Dems given that it was custom built by and for Joe Bruno as well as run by folks who owe the Bruno machine everything. The fact that we have Dems lining up to take this challenge on tells me that those on the ground see a real opportunity here.
I like that.
