BALLSTON — Saratoga County Republican Committee Chairman Joseph Suhrada has a message: this isn’t the “old Republican Party.”
Reveling in the special-election victory of Charles “Chuck” Marshall against Democratic write-in candidate Hank Kuczynski for public works commissioner in deep blue Saratoga Springs, Suhrada signaled a changing dynamic in political strategy.
In a post on the Saratoga County GOP’s Facebook page, the chair appeared to frame the “new” county committee as more assertive, tactical and unapologetic.
“The point of my post is [that] we don't have the old-timers with plaid pants at the country club,” said Suhrada, who heads the committee. “There isn't that group of people anymore running the party and we're not afraid to fight, speak out and defend ourselves. We're not afraid to be Republicans.”
For decades, Saratoga County politics were controlled by a Republican establishment characterized by old-school conservatism.
The transition to a “new” party has been a roughly two-year process, according to Suhrada. The county GOP elections commissioner came to power first as an interim leader following the resignation of Joseph Whalen in August.
Suhrada declined to name any specific individuals of whom he associates with the old GOP guard. Concurrently, he maintained that he doesn’t consider past leadership “bad.”
“I'm just saying, leadership here has not been what you would call exciting and they've also been very staid and they've also been thinking that we're just going to lay low, not say anything, hope that people will vote the way that we hope they'll vote,” Suhrada said.
From 1985 to 2012, Mechanicville native John F. "Jasper" Nolan steered the party as chair during redder times. His reign was far longer than that of his successors: John Herrick (2012 to 2016), Steve Bulger (2016 to 2018), Carl Zeilman (2018 to 2022) and Whalen (2023 to 2024).
None of the last four elected chairs responded to a request for comment.
Under each of the chairships, Democratic enrollment in towns along the Adirondack Northway has expanded further and further, a change which has appeared to mostly influence the county’s color in state and federal elections. Still, Republicans have continuously dominated local races in most towns.
Even with a bump in Republican enrollment reported from November to January, Suhrada believes that the party doesn’t have the privilege anymore to coast on numbers.
“We're punching harder,” Suhrada said. “We're taking our shots with more skill. We are looking at strategy and tactics. We're not just relying on voter-enrollment advantages like they did 20 years ago.”
Outside of losses in Clifton Park and Malta, the biggest loss for the GOP over the last two decades has been in Saratoga Springs. Once reliably red in the 20th Century, the political makeup of the Spa City’s commission form of government has appeared to change in lockstep with voter-enrollment trends.
That paradigm will change once Marshall’s victory is certified, breaking up the city’s Democratic majority for the first time in 13 years. Approximately 96 write-in votes for Kuczynski were deemed invalid by state Supreme Court Judge James Walsh.
The Saratoga County Democratic Committee in weighing an appeal.
Suhrada believes that years of Democratic infighting, policies, disorganization — notably failing to get a nominee on the ballot in the DPW special election — and high energy led to Marshall claiming victory last week. The recent court ruling buoyed Marshall to victory 1,760 votes to 1,679. Prior to the court ruling on ballots challenged, Kuczynski had 1,767 votes and Marshall had 1,760.
The county GOP chair acknowledges that Saratoga Springs will be a challenge to keep in the county GOP’s column. As of January, the Spa City has 5,833 registered Republicans, 5,807 independents and 8,628 Democrats.
“We have shown ourselves even in a situation like Saratoga Springs where you have this huge, wealthy, white, downstate, educated voter dynamic that is highly partisan,” Suhrada said. “I call them the WAMC enrollment advantage. They listen to public radio. Nice folks and all, but they hate Republicans.”
Suhrada was referring to WAMC-FM, the powerful Albany-based NPR affiliate with listeners throughout northeastern New York, northwestern Connecticut and parts of Vermont.
Saratoga Springs Democratic Chair Otis Maxwell described Suhrada’s description as “insulting” while Saratoga County Democratic Chair Martha Devaney called it “offensive.”
“At first I laughed, but ultimately I found it very offensive,” Devaney said. “I hope that every one of those voters that he refers to in that regard knows what the GOP is all about and recognizes that the Democratic Party is the party for the people.”
The Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee is expected to name endorsements for the 2025 election cycle on Saturday. So far, Sarah Burger and Finance Commissioner Minita Sangvi have applied for supervisor, Michele Madigan has applied for mayor, and incumbent Dillon Moran and Jessica Troisi have applied for city accounts commissioner.
On the Republican side, Mayor John Safford, Supervisor Matthew Veitch and GOP-endorsed Democratic Public Safety Commissioner Timothy Coll are expected to run again. Deputy Mayor JoAnne Kiernan is slated to run for finance commissioner.
Maxwell and Saratoga Springs Republican Committee Chair Michael Brandi are both expected to have a full slate.
“Our incumbents have delivered exceptional results in their first terms,” Brandi said in a text. “I think the voters have had enough of the shenanigans of Dillon Moran and Co. and will vote accordingly.”
Without infighting spilling out into the electorate, Burger expects that Democrats can pull off a strong performance. It’s widely believed that the ascent of Coll and Safford in 2023 was the result of tension between then-Mayor Ron Kim and then-Public Safety Commissioner James Montagnino, both Democrats, as well as independent candidates.
“I think there is some influence there, but the more time that goes by, the greater the Democratic enrollment advantage becomes,” Burger said. “I think it's becoming less and less likely for the Republican to win if you're just looking at numbers. The data kind of drives this.”
On the other hand, Suhrada believes the county GOP is attracting a wide tent of moderates to conservatives who find fault with "woke" Democratic voices.
