Patricia Doxsey is reporting for the Daily Freeman that Jen Metzger will be the Democratic candidate for Ulster County Executive in the upcoming special election in November. Metzger, a former state senator, received 64.4 percent of the weighted vote at the Democratic Committee Convention on September 17. Ulster County Comptroller March Gallagher received 29.7 percent of the vote, while Deputy County Executive Marc Rider came in third with six percent. Metzger was nominated by Sheriff Juan Figueroa, who called her ” a true leader” with a talent for “bringing people together and working with others.” Metzger served on the Rosendale Town Board before she was elected to the state Senate in 2018. In 2020, she was defeated by Republican Michael Martucci. She was appointed in 2022 to the Ulster County Land Bank and to the state’s Cannabis Control Board. William J. Kemble is reporting for the Daily Freeman that Republican town of Ulster Supervisor James Quigley will face off against Metzger in the race for county executive. Quigley said he was chosen by Republican and Conservative Party leaders in private sessions during the past week. He said the decision came after realizing that some of the county’s largest problems should be addressed by someone who has a track record of working cooperatively with people who have significantly varied environmental, economic, and political views. Quigley has been town supervisor since 2010 after running unsuccessfully in 2008 for Ulster County Comptroller. He was a Coleman Catholic High School graduate who worked in New York City as a partner in a real estate investment firm and then returned to put that experience to work resolving Ulster town debt problems. Quigley said the idea of having a county executive’s position decided at the polls without a Republican challenger was abhorrent. “For too long the office of County Executive has been viewed as a birthright and used as a stepping stone for higher office,” Quigley said. “With the support of Ulster County voters, those days will end under my watch.” The special election on November 8 is to fill the unexpired term of Pat Ryan, who was elected to the 19th Congressional District on August 23. Ryan resigned as county executive on September 9. The special election for county executive is taking place on the same date as the general election. The winner will serve through the end of 2023. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.