Clinton County, New York Democrats have announced their candidates for countywide races this year.
Three key seats are up for election this year in New York’s northeastern-most county: District Attorney, County Clerk and County Treasurer.
District Attorney Andrew Wylie was first elected in 2005 and is running for his sixth four-year term. He reflected on the increase in violent crimes and how it motivates him to continue.
“2024 and probably the first month of January has been our most violent year of crime in the county. It’s why we do the job,” Wylie said. “It doesn’t matter what type of a case I put in, when that note comes from the jury and we have a verdict I’m still nervous. You never know which way it’s going to go. And the day that I lose that will be the day that I’ll walk away from this office. I don’t foresee that happening for some time though.”
Wylie currently has no announced opponent.
Long-time County Clerk John Zurlo died in December after serving in the position since 1995. Democratic County Chair Brandi Lloyd ran against him in 2023 and is again running for the office.
“I have over 12 years of dedicated service to our community working in local government, navigating the complexities of complying with New York state mandates, laws, all while remaining within a budget,” Lloyd explained. “Bottom line, once elected I will be ready on day one to listen to you, work for you and continue my service to our great community as your county clerk.”
Clinton County Republican Party Chair Jerika Manning announced her campaign for County Clerk on January 31st saying in a statement that she has the “necessary skills to effectively manage the responsibilities of the Clerk’s office.”
Lloyd hopes her previous run provides an advantage during the upcoming campaign.
“The main focus of our campaign was just getting my name out there and I think we did a great job of that. We’re just going to keep going on the momentum of that,” Lloyd said. “We’ll embrace the benefits of it hopefully being fresh in everyone’s mind.”
Clinton County’s treasurer resigned in November to take a private sector job and the office is being managed by the deputy treasurer until the November election. Democrat Randy Lozier is the current town clerk and tax collector for the Town of Beekmantown and hopes to win the county seat this fall.
“I believe that the treasurer’s position needs experience and knowledge and I believe I bring both of those. With governmental accounting we have new laws that are coming in place and they’re getting repealed and they’re coming back. But there’s a lot of changes going on and I think someone needs to be in the treasurer’s position that has that knowledge,” asserted Lozier. “We have a couple topics, the tax topic is probably the biggest one right now because there are five or six laws that are coming into place about foreclosures. And with the tariffs and everything else going on there’s going to be a lot of changes. So I think we need someone in that office that has the governmental accounting and knowledge.”
Clinton County Coroner Chad Deans announced in late January he would seek the Republican nomination for the county treasurer’s seat, telling the Plattsburgh Press-Republican he is qualified because it is an administrative position.
Manning told WAMC that the full slate of Republican candidates will be announced later this month.
