Windham Town Supervisor Thomas Hoyt endorsed Marc Molinaro for the 102nd Assembly District seat, withdrawing from a run he announced in December after a heart attack last month crimped his ability to hit the campaign trail.
The 59-year-old Republican suffered a heart attack on Jan. 22 while driving with his daughter and was released from Albany Medical Center on Feb. 5. Hoyt had been contending for a seat that’s being vacated by Assemblyman Chris Tague, a Schoharie Republican who’s running for the state Senate’s 51st District.
While Hoyt said he’s feeling significantly better than he did two weeks ago, and returned to full-time work over the past week, the rigors of a campaign proved too daunting. The 102nd District includes Greene and Schoharie counties and parts of Ulster, Delaware, Albany and Otsego counties.
“We as Republicans came to the decision,” Hoyt said. “We had a conversation. Spoke to him. With my health, I knew I wasn’t able to be on the campaign trail, and I endorsed him.”
Hoyt said earlier this month that he might postpone his campaign after his health scare. His endorsement of Molinaro appears to settle the Republican field for the open seat.
Molinaro, a former congressman who became the head of the Federal Transit Administration under President Donald Trump six months ago, announced his candidacy Monday morning for the Assembly seat.
“I’m coming home,” Molinaro said on social media.
Molinaro criticized what he called “progressive special interests and incompetent far-left politicians” in Albany and pledged to deliver “sensible leadership” for the district.
Noah Eckstein is the editor-in-chief of The Overlook. Send correspondence to noah@theoverlooknews.com.