Search To Fill Local Senate Seat Underway

Submitted Image From Young's Office

OLEAN – The search to fill New York’s 57th Senate seat is underway after New York State Senator Cathy Young (R) announced Thursday she is stepping down to take another job.

Young said in a statement to the media said she accepted a job as the director of the New York State Center of Excellence for Food and Agriculture at CornellAgriTech.





Now Republicans in the 57th District are searching for a candidate to fill her shoes.

Dave Wilfong, the Chautauqua County Republican Chair, told WNYNewsNow that the process to fill her seat is long and complicated.

Wilfong said he hopes that New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo calls for a special election to fill her seat.





















“Myself and the other chairs from Catt. County, Alleghany County, and Livingston county would get together and take a look at the candidates that would like to run,” said Wilfong. “In our area of course, the number one candidate would be Andy Goodell. We would see if he would like the job.”

“In Catt. County it would be Joe Giglio, both of those guys are assembly men and they would do a great job, but I haven’t heard from either of one of those gentlemen if they would like the job.”

Wilfong said that Cuomo could leave the seat vacant until the next election, although he doesn’t think that will happen.

Young said in a statement Thursday the decision to leave was bittersweet.









“It was a very challenging decision to leave my service in the New York State Senate because I care so deeply about the people and issues facing my district,” she said. “However, this new role will provide me with more direct opportunities to make progress in one of the industries that is closest to my heart.”

WNYNewsNow’s Justin Gould, Matt Hummel and Jonathan Schultz contributed to this report.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.