BETTER THAN HEARSAY - Assembly Race: Molinaro Magical Mystery Tour

Above photo: Marcus Molinaro has been nominated as the Republican Party nominee for the 102nd Assembly District.

CATSKILL - All roads traveling through the 102nd Assembly District toward Albany and possible New York State leadership have been cleared for Marcus Molinaro by the Greene County Republican Party.

Molinaro was endorsed by the local GOP committee during its convention, last Saturday in Catskill, concluding an in-party magical mystery tour that had suddenly arisen over the past three weeks.

He still had to get support from committees in the other five counties within the 102nd including all of Schoharie and sections of Albany, Delaware, Ulster and Otsego counties.

Those mostly rural byways were expected to likewise offer no traffic jams, easing Molinaro’s route to the signing of petitions over the next month, fulfilling the required electoral paperwork.

Molinaro, before reaching the goal, will also need to pass the eventual Democratic Party nominee in what is shaping up as a vigorous race between three hopefuls, all focused on a primary, this summer.

In the blink of a political eye, Molinaro is the lone GOP candidate, paving the way to replace Chris Tague this November.

Tague, in November, 2025, announced he would leave the Assembly post he has held since 2018 to pursue the State Senate in the 51st District.

Two would-be successors quickly threw their hats into the 102nd ring seeking GOP backing; Windham town supervisor Thomas Hoyt and Richard Amedure, a resident of Rensselaerville and Conservative.

They were both engaged in campaigns, with no public mention of Molinaro, until early February when clothesline chatter began circulating about him leaving his job with the Federal Transit Administration, and running.

GOP officials in Greene County would not confirm he was entering the race even as rumors buzzed that behind-the-scenes machinations were well underway, allowing him to properly leave his federal appointment.

The back-fence talk became better than hearsay when Molinaro, in the waning days before the February 21 GOP convention, stated on social media, “after a record-breaking year working with [President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy], my last day with the administration will be Friday, February 20.

“I’m coming home to be closer to my family and get back into the fight. New York is being run into the ground. Stay tuned,” Molinaro wrote.

Greene County GOP chairman Brent Bogardus, despite the unsubtle hints, continued to call the move “speculation” until Catskill town GOP chairman Matthew Luvera broke the official silence.

Luvera, nominating Molinaro said, “Marc felt the call to come back home to be with us and his family, God knows that Albany needs Marc right now.” 

Molinaro, accepting the nomination said, “It has been a dream responsibility to serve with Donald Trump.

“Having spent three years in Washington around some people who think they are powerful, they aren’t,” said Molinaro, returning to the nation’s capital last August after previously serving two years in Congress.

“They forget it is We the People who are this government. They make decisions without concerns for what happens to real people,” he said.

“The real work happens at home. There are farmers that need help. Small businesses are over-regulated. That is all too important to just sit on the sidelines.”

Turning his focus to the Democrat-dominated State legislature, Molinaro said, “One Party rule in Albany has eroded our State.

“We have the highest burden of taxes in the country, not because of Washington but because of Albany. 

“They say they will go there and fix it. They are the ones who broke it. They want the responsibility to fix it. They caused the problem,” he said.

“I am getting back there to lift up my neighbors,” said Molinaro, a resident of Catskill with his wife and four children. “That’s the fight worth having.

“I think New York is worth saving. I hope we can win in November. I think we can. Thank you for your trust and support,” Molinaro said.

He referenced both Hoyt and Amedure, who quietly ended their campaigns, saying, “I wish I had come to a conclusion [to run] sooner. It wouldn’t have caused anger and angst.

“They are two good men who deserve to be in public office. Life throws you a lot of curveballs. God reminds you of what’s important,” Molinaro said.

Discomfort has been expressed that Molinaro’s swift, hush-hush takeover of the 102nd race, bypassing a potential committee vote between Hoyt, Amedure and Molinaro, would create bad vibes within the Party.

Hoyt, the county GOP vice-chairman, said after the convention, “I support Marcus one-hundred and ten percent,” noting recent medical issues were forcing him from the race under any circumstances.

“My health threw me a curveball but I said from the beginning I wouldn’t go to a primary. I respect the will of the committee. Marcus is the preferred candidate. I have unfinished business in Windham,” Hoyt said.

Amedure, twice a candidate for the State Senate who reportedly was set to gain local Conservative Party backing for the 102nd, has not commented.

He left the race without public announcement shortly before the Molinaro rumors gained traction, apparently aware of the shifting GOP sands.

Tague, in a post-convention cell phone interview said, “Marc is probably the most experienced and knowledgeable individual about State government and how it operates that I know.

“Marc used to be the floor leader [in the State Assembly]  and is respected on both sides of the aisle,” Tague said.

“It’s a shame he wasn’t elected Governor. New York State would be a much different place than it is now if he had been,” Tague said.

Molinaro has been in public office since the age of 18 when he was elected to the Village of Tivoli Board of Trustees. A year later, Tivoli voters elected him the youngest mayor in the country at the time.

He served four terms in the Dutchess County Legislature and represented the 103rd District in the New York State Assembly from 2006 to 2011.

Molinaro was elected Dutchess County Executive in 2011, serving until 2023 when he stepped down to serve in Congress.

In 2018, Molinaro was the Republican Party nominee for governor, losing to Democratic incumbent Andrew Cuomo.

Democrats will be voting for either Janet Tweed, a Delhi village trustee who ran unsuccessfully against Tague in 2024, Catskill village trustee Thomas Boomhower or Cairo town Democratic chairwoman Mary Finneran.

“We are not looking to back one of them until there is one of them. They each have strong attributes,” Democratic Party co-chairperson Marc Czernerys said in a phone interview, earlier this week.

“It’s a long road for Democrats to take the seat. We understand that,” Czermerys said, with the GOP in control of the 102nd since 1973.

“We will run a good campaign against Molinaro. He has been going back and forth between being a centrist conservative and MAGA,” Czermerys said. “We will take our time.”