One Saratoga Nearly Sweeps City Hall

It was a late night in Saratoga Springs as candidates waited to see who would win control of City Hall. 

While results didn’t come in until 11:00 p.m., by the end of the night it appeared that the One Saratoga line had nearly swept city hall — winning five out of the seven races, assuming results hold. 

“I’m very happy about five out of the seven races,” One Saratoga chairwoman Courtney DeLeonardis said. “I feel we ran really wonderful campaigns with civility, integrity and professionalism. To me this is a sign that our community is looking for city before party.” 

Incumbent Mayor John Safford will continue to lead the city. He defeated Democratic challenger and current Supervisor Michelle Madigan, who previously served on city council and ran on the One Saratoga line in her 2023 run for supervisor. 

At the time of publication, Safford was ahead by 287 votes. 

Safford will be joined on City Council by Incumbent Commissioner of Public Safety Tim Coll who was endorsed by One Saratoga, as well as the Republicans and Democrats. Coll ran unopposed and defeated any attempts at a write in candidate 7340-63. 

Not returning to City Council is Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran. The embattled commissioner was defeated by One Saratoga and Republican backed Jessica Troisi by 433 votes. 

In a Facebook post, Moran conceded the election, thanking his Deputy and expressing pride in the work that he did as commissioner. He also took a jab at his opponent while wishing her the best. 

“Negative campaigning seems to work, to lose to a campaign without ideas, knowledge of the position or the challenges currently facing it is difficult,” Moran said in the post. “That said, I wish Ms. Troisi the best and we as citizens need her to be successful.” 

Safford will also have a trusted familiar face on City Council as his deputy, Joanne Kiernan, was elected Commissioner of Finance. Kiernan ran on the Republican and One Saratoga Line, defeating Democrat Shafer Gaston by 183 votes as of publication.

She will take over a seat currently held by Democrat Minita Saghvi, who ran for Supervisor this year. 

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for One Saratoga. Incumbent Commissioner of Public Works Chuck Marshall was defeated by Democrat B.K. Keramati who beat Marshall by 342 votes. While Marshall seemed confident on election night, telling reporters he was used to close elections, by the next morning he announced that he had called Keramati to concede. 

Marshall only took over the role after winning a closely contested special election in January for the seat vacated by former Commissioner Jason Golub. 

In terms of who will represent the city at the county level, a clear favorite emerged early on as One Saratoga endorsed Democrat Sarah Burger received the most votes of any candidate running in a contested election in Saratoga Springs with 5157 votes. The only candidate who secured more was the aforementioned Coll. 

Burger will be joined by Current Commissioner of Finance and fellow Democrat Minita Sanghvi who received 4354 votes, defeating One Saratoga Endorsed Republican George Ehinger by 333 votes. Burger and Sanghvi will replace retiring Supervisor Matt Vietch (R, One Saratoga) and Michelle Madigan who ran for mayor. 

Around the County

Saratoga Springs wasn’t the only place in the county with contested elections this year. 

In the hotly contested race for Saratoga County District Attorney, Republican Brett Eby defeated Democrat Robert Logan 27955-26944, a margin of around a 1,000 votes. Eby will replace Karen Hagen who retired in August. 

It wasn’t as close in the race for Sherriff, it wasn’t nearly as close with Republic Jeff Brown defeating Democrat Ryan Mahan 29212-25884, a margin of over 3,000 votes. Brown, who currently serves as Undersheriff will take over for his boss, the retiring Sherriff Mike Zurlo. 

Several new faces will also be coming to the Board of Supervisors. In addition to the aforementioned Burger and Sanghvi, five different new members will join the board, if current results remain the same. 

In Wilton, Democrat Toni Sturm holds a 104-vote lead over incumbent Republican Supervisor John Lant. The incumbent also lost in Greenfield where Michael Gyarmathy defeated incumbent supervisor Kevin Veitch. 

This isn’t the first time this year the two have faced off. Veitch defeated Gyarmathy in the Republican Primary back in June 290-233. After losing, Gyarmathy, a registered Republican, ran on the Democratic line. 

Democrats also picked up a seat in Clifton Park where Democrat Ram Mohan Lalukota defeated Republican Juliano Febo for the second of their two supervisor positions 5383-4989, a margin of 394 votes. Current incumbent Republican Angela Thompson decided not to run for reelection while Republican and Chair of the Board of Supervisors Phil Barrett didn’t face a challenger for his position. 

In Stillwater meanwhile, Democratic challenger Robert McCoy failed to defeat Republican Incumbent Edward Kinowski. He lost 1320-936. 

All told, democrats now hold seven seats on the Board of Supervisors compared to 15 held by Republicans plus Joseph Grasso who ran on the Conservative, Republican and Democratic lines.