Cortland Democrats endorse election slate

Cortland County Democrats have endorsed their candidates for state Supreme Court Justice District 6, Deirdre Hay, and for several local elections, Tim Perfetti, chair of the Cortland County Democratic Committee, announced on Friday afternoon.

The committee endorsed all party-aligned incumbents running for re-election this cycle:

• Village of Homer — Mayor Darren “Hal” McCabe and village Trustee, Elizabeth McGrath.
• Incumbent county Legislators — Douglas Bentley (LD 1); Beau Harbin (LD 2); Cathy Bischoff (District 3); Ronald VanDee (District 4); Susan Wilson (District 5) and Sandra Price (District 14).
• City of Cortland Common Council incumbents, Kathryn Silliman (2nd Ward); Mary Clare Pennello (3rd Ward); Patricia Lane (4th Ward); Seth Thompson (5th Ward); Williams Carpenter (6th Ward) and Troy Beckwith (7th Ward).
• Four newcomers for county Legislature — Dominick Mantella (LD 6); Donald Chu (LD 7); Brian Horan (LD 9); and Reed Cleland (LD 10).
• Newcomer for city Common Council, Adam Ferguson (1st Ward).
• Luke Stevenson was also endorsed in the city of Cortland mayoral race.

All candidates who sought endorsement from the committee are members of the Democratic Party, however, Luke Stevenson is running as the Emergent Party candidate for mayor of Cortland seat.

“A committee of Democrats endorsing other Democrats may not seem newsworthy but the reality is we have many issues of serious and urgent consequence affecting our local community,” Perfetti said in the news release. “Fiscal responsibility and assurance of adequate care for our local residents are issues which have consistently struggled under the recent leadership of the Republican mayor in Cortland and Republican majority in our legislature. This slate of candidates is poised to affect tremendous change for the good of all the constituents of Cortland County.”