Costello, Schoonmaker win primaries in Saugerties

John Schoonmaker and Fred Costello

Town Supervisor incumbent Fred Costello Jr. and County Legislature District 2 candidate John Schoonmaker enjoyed victories in their primary races Tuesday.

In the Independence Party primary for town supervisor, Costello beat challenger and town councilman Paul Andreassen 88-57. The two will meet again in November as Costello also has the Democratic and Working Families Party lines and Andreassen the Republican, Conservative and Libertarian lines.

“I feel very confident and I’m honored — these things are always humbling and this one was very humbling,” said Costello. “We were getting a good sense of momentum when we were out canvassing, so that made me feel good. But you never know until folks get the chance to express themselves. When the returns started coming in, we were able to relax a little, but I never take anything for granted.”

Andreassen expressed disappointment, but felt that the loss of the Independence line wouldn’t be a significant detriment come November.

“I think what was surprising is the low turnout everywhere, in all the towns,” he said. “I think it sends a signal that people just aren’t politically attuned and they just may be overall disgusted with politics in general, perhaps.”

In the District 2 county legislature Democratic primary, Schoonmaker, a town councilman, beat Allen, who held the seat for two terms until losing it in 2017 to Joe Maloney, 152-114.

“I’m feeling really good — all of the hard work [carried out by] myself and the volunteers put forth really showed last night,” said Schoonmaker on Wednesday. “I’m looking forward to the general election in November.”

Allen could not be reached for comment. Of five votes cast for the Working Families Party District 2 primary, one was cast for Schoonmaker, according to Elections Commissioner Tom Turco. Four write-in votes were cast for Allen, Turco said.

In the Independence Party District 2 primary, 25 votes were cast for Al Bruno, who holds the GOP line in the November general election. Of 27 total write-ins, 25 were cast for Allen, one was cast for current legislator Joe Maloney, who is not running and one was cast for District 1 incumbent Mary Wawro. Absentee ballots, which will begin to be tallied later this week, may well decide who gets the line in November.

Bruno said he was looking forward to the race with Schoonmaker.

In legislative District 1, Aaron Levine, who will appear on the Democratic line, secured all four of the write-in votes cast in the Green Party primary. The Independence line could be determined by absentee ballots; Wawro secured 30 votes, while 25 write-in votes were recorded for Levine. Wawro already has the Republican and Conservative endorsements, while Levine holds the Democratic and Working Families party endorsements.

In the race for the Green Party line for the town board, Nicole Roskos tallied four of the 16 total votes cast, Turco said. Three votes were cast for current town councilperson Leanne Thornton, who has already secured the Democratic, Independence and Working Families lines.

All results are unofficial.