Steve Hughes reports in the Times Union that Democrats Andrea Smyth and Craig Apple, and Republican Jake Ashby plan to run for the new New York State Senate District 43 seat this year. The new district includes includes Colonie, in Albany County, all of Rensselaer County, and parts of Washington County. Apple lives in Colonie, and also has a home in Rensselaer County, and is currently Albany County Sheriff. Smyth, ran and lost an election for Rensselaer County executive in 2017, and is executive director of the New York State Coalition for Children's Behavioral Health. Ashby currently is the 107th District Assemblymember. Apple reported $586,450 in his campaign account in his most recent filing with the state Board of Elections. Last October Apple filed a misdemeanor complaint on the charge of forcible touching against former governor Andrew Cuomo, but in January Albany County District Attorney David Soares asked a judge to dismiss the complaint. Republican Daphne Jordan used to represent Rensselaer County in the state Senate, but lives in Halfmoon, and is switching to that area's proposed 44th district, where she will take on fellow Republican incumbent Jim Tedisco. That district covers all of Saratoga County and the eastern part of Schenectady County, which includes Niskayuna. Read more about this story in the Times Union.