[dropcap]R[/dropcap]ye City Councilwoman Julie Killian’s campaign for the New York state Senate has received the backing of both the Independence and Conservative parties.
With endorsements from both the Independence and Conservative parties, Rye City Councilwoman Julie Killian, a Republican, will now carry four ballot lines in her November state Senate race.
Bill O’Reilly, Killian’s campaign manager, said the endorsements will be crucial to the success of her campaign going forward.
“It’s always helpful to have the extra party lines,” he said.
Killian, who announced her Senate run in early March, has already been nominated by the Republican Party and will also run on the Reform line, a minor party.
While incumbent Sen. George Latimer, a Rye Democrat, has yet to announce his campaign for re-election, it is expected that both he and Killian—who announced her bid for a Senate seat in New York’s 37th District in March—will battle it out in the fall. Latimer has served two consecutive terms as a New York state senator.
According to Latimer, while the Independence endorsement carries weight in Westchester County—it is the county’s third- largest political party—it is far from an unexpected developments in what many pundits are expecting to be one of the state races to watch this election cycle.
“It’s not a surprise to me at all, they endorsed my two prior opponents,” he said.
In 2012 and 2014, Republican candidates Bob Cohen, of Scarsdale, and Joe Dillon, of Yonkers, respectively, were both endorsed by the Independence Party, but were still defeated by Latimer.
In past elections, the endorsement of the controversial party has oftentimes been a harbinger of success for many Westchester candidates.
The Independence Party’s credibility, however, has come under scrutiny in recent years, following a feud between Giulio Cavallo, the party’s chairman, and Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, a Republican.
After Astorino was elected county executive in 2009, a year when he was endorsed by the Independence Party, he accused Cavallo of seeking patronage jobs for members of his party.
Astorino won re-election four years later without the endorsement of the Independence Party, something no Republican had done running for the county’s top seat in 20 years.
This year, despite Killian and Latimer coming from different sides of the political aisle, each intends to run with governmental reform as a major facet in their respective platforms.
“We’re not getting the kind of reform we need out of the status quo,” Latimer said. “We need a change and a new construct; a bipartisan construct.”
Similarly, Killian has already sponsored a bill to limit the amount of time state legislators can serve in elected office.
“It’s this type of political careerism that creates a cozy atmosphere and gives way to corruption,” O’Reilly said. “If you want to break the back of corruption in Albany, you need term limits.”
The 37th District encompasses the cities of Yonkers, White Plains, New Rochelle and Rye, and the towns of Eastchester, Harrison, Mamaroneck, Rye, Bedford and North Castle.
Candidates are elected to the Senate for two-year terms, with an annual base salary of $79,500.
Killian could not be reached for comment as of press time.
