Patricia R. Doxsey reports for the Daily Freeman that Dutchess County Legislature Chairman Gregg Pulver is mulling a 2023 run for county executive. “I’m giving it serious consideration,” said the Pine Plains Republican. “I’ve got an exploratory committee kind of looking at things.” Pulver has served on the County Legislature for eight years, and as its chairman for the past four. Before his election to the Legislature, Pulver served for 12 years as Pine Plains supervisor. If tapped by the GOP, Pulver would run in the November 2023 race for the seat now held by Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro. Molinaro, a Republican from Red Hook, is running in the Aug. 23 special election for the 19th Congressional District seat vacated by former U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado, who has been appointed lieutenant governor. Molinaro will face off against Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan for a congressional district that, as a result of redistricting, will no longer exist after Dec. 31. If Molinaro’s bid for a two-year Congressional term is successful, Dutchess County leadership could be left in the hands of an unelected leader for a year or more. Molinaro would surrender his position as county executive and the government would be left in the hands of Deputy County Executive William O’Neill, a Republican who has served in his administration since 2012, but has never been elected to public office. O’Neill could serve as long as 16 months as the unelected acting county executive as the result of a quirk in the county’s charter. With the special election for Congress scheduled for Aug. 23, it is too late to put the race for county executive on the ballot for the November 2022 election, meaning that an election for that office would not take place until November 2023. Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.