Susan Arbetter is reporting for Capital Tonight former U.S. National Speed Skating champion and child advocate Bridie Farrell Wed., Jul. 21, announced she is running for Congress, looking to unseat Republican Elise Stefanik. “Listen, I think that we need someone who is going to go to Washington and remember us. Elise hasn’t, right? We need someone who is going to work on the issues that are important to us. Elise hasn’t done that and I will,” the Saratoga Springs Democrat said. Farrell was a member of the U.S. National Speed Skating team between 1998 and 2014, setting three American records during her tenure. She later disclosed that she had been abused by her much older coach. Farrell frequently spoke about her experience to the members of the media as well as lawmakers. Her advocacy was widely seen as integral to passage of the Child Victims Act in 2019. Farrell later founded a nonprofit organization, America Loves Kids, that supports survivors of abuse. As for her ability to defeat the incumbent, Farrell argues that Stefanik is playing into the nation’s divisive political rhetoric, and that her extreme partisanship is not helping the district. “Is it going to be hard? Yeah, it’s going to be hard, but I’m used to hard challenges and fighting for other people, and that’s why I’m getting into this,” she explained. Farrell said her priority issues include access to health care, good public schools on the K-12 and college level and universal broadband. Farrell is the third candidate to enter the race to unseat Stefanik; the other candidates include Matthew Putorti and Ezra Watson. Read the full story at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.