New York’s new “even-year” election law means local officials with two-year terms must run again in 2026, creating an opportunity for Shandaken’s Robert Drake to unseat incumbent County Legislator Kathy Nolan just a year after she defeated Republican Peter Friedel in Tuesday’s election.
Nolan represents District 22, which includes Shandaken, Olive, Denning and Hardenburgh, in the part-time legislative position. Drake, Shandaken’s deputy town supervisor, says he hopes to garner the minimum 150 signatures to get on the Democratic ballot for a primary in May or June.
“Fundamentally, District 22, that is the Catskills section of Ulster County, and there is this long-standing concern that the county is more focused on the Hudson Valley and the Catskills get a little short shrift,” Drake, 38, said in an interview. “We hit below our weight because the Catskills are balkanized in many ways. I think that role can do a better job.”
The law that set all of this in motion, synching local elections that had been held in odd-numbered years with national and state elections held in even-numbered years, wound its way through two years of legal challenges before the State Court of Appeals ruled it constitutional last month.
Supporters say that aligning local and national elections will increase voter turnout, while opponents say the shift will turn the focus from local issues toward national politics. It applies to 23 county legislators, town supervisors, clerks and highway superintendents who will have to run again in 2026.
Nolan, 70, is a pediatrician and bioethicist who has lived in Shandaken for 35 years and held her seat in two separate stints during six of the past eight years. She said that while she’s spoken with Drake about whether he’d run and whether she’d step down next year, she was surprised by his decision.
“Given the law change, I had questioned whether this will be my last term,” she said. “But I feel like not running would leave me a little short on accomplishing what I set out to accomplish. I am surprised that Robert would say he is going to run at this point.”
It’s important to have a “continuity of experience” and it “might be the wrong timing for a new person,” Nolan said.
While several local Democratic officials declined to talk on the record about Drake’s candidacy, newly elected Shandaken Supervisor Barbara Mansfield didn’t hesitate to throw her support behind him.
“Shandaken would be better represented by Robert,” Mansfield said. “Kathy was here fighting for things that were relevant to our town 20 years ago, but she doesn’t have as good of a handle on things now.”
Drake, who lives in Phoenicia and serves as the assistant director for technology operations for the Nassau County Library System, said Nolan has focused on county-wide issues at the expense of local taxpayers. He said he would focus on creating partnerships by devising programs for shared services throughout the four towns he would represent.
“The county legislator needs to be more focused on the district and less about the county at large,” he said. “It comes down to, what is important to my constituents?”
Jim Rich is a senior reporter for The Overlook. You can reach him at jim@theoverlooknews.com.
