Albany County District Attorney David Soares says he is staying in the race this November after losing June's Democratic primary.
Defense Attorney Lee Kindlon beat Soares in a low-turnout Democratic primary after the five-term DA lost the support of county Democrats for using a state grant to give himself a raise. He later returned the money. Soares, a vocal critic of recent public safety reforms passed by the New York State legislature, announced his independent write-in campaign in Albany Wednesday.
"We have over 300,000 people in this county, many registered voters, and simply 10% of those individuals exercising their opinion does not speak for this county," said Soares, who notes his campaign is ultimately about restoring public safety in the face of bail reform and Raise The Age.
"I am the candidate that every political party member can gather around," Soares said, "And here's the reason why. Because I don't, I don't believe that anyone agrees that a 16- or 17-year-old with a loaded firearm who was apprehended by law enforcement who put themselves at risk to achieve that goal, I don't believe that anyone thinks that that person should go to family court and be able to walk right out of family court after having gotten juice and crackers."
Soares says voters will rally behind him. "The party bosses have written me off, but the people of Albany County are going to write me in."
In response, Kindlon’s campaign released statements from a number of high-profile local Democrats reiterating their support for the primary winner. Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan is one of them.
"I think that we had a primary where the issues were debated and the voters made a choice, and Lee Kindlon won overwhelmingly by more than 10 points in a Democratic primary," said Sheehan. "And so I think that people have spoken, but it's going to be important for the election in November for the candidates to get out there and make sure that voters know why there is a need for change and why Lee Kindlon is the person for bringing that change to the district attorney's office, returning law and order, ensuring that we have a district attorney who understands that the rule of law apply to them as well as to those who are there prosecuting."
Also running is Republican Ralph Ambrosio, who issued a statement that says in part "David Soares has been in office for 20 years and it has gotten progressively worse each year. For many years David was an advocate for the policies that have been so damaging. We don’t currently have a functioning criminal justice system in Albany and everyone has to own some of that failure, including David and our legislators. Lee Kindlon is not the answer either. He is a lifelong defense attorney and disciple of many of the ‘reform’ policies that have done so much harm to our local communities."
Few write-in candidates have been successful in Albany history. Former Assemblyman Jack McEneny, an Albany fixture whose public service dates back to the Erastus Corning era, tells WAMC hope springs eternal.
"You never say never, but it's going to be expensive, it's going to take time, it's going to take volunteers, and it's going to be a much bigger situation in terms of how many people are going to get involved to educate people and tell them, first of all, this is a vote you should have made, and you're going to have to write it, and it's going to be a real challenge, but we know what's happened. I mean, it happened with me,” McEneny said.
McEneny won his first election to the county legislature in 1991 by waging a write-in campaign. Soares says he can do the same.
"It is the people who govern and rule, not the bosses and all of the volunteers that we have knocking on these doors, and every step that we take over the next several months, is going to prove that to them. Thank you so much for coming today. Please support our write in it's D, A, V, I, D, S, O, A, R, E, S."
