GOP tried to recruit Albany DA David Soares

The Albany Republican Party sought to recruit incumbent Albany County District Attorney David Soares earlier this year, county party chair Randy Bashwinger told City & State. Soares never applied for the Republican endorsement, instead continuing to run as a Democrat. He lost the Democratic primary in June to a more progressive candidate and has now launched a write-in campaign.

Although Soares is not a Republican candidate, Republican donors and operatives have assisted his campaign. According to the Times Union, Republican donors injected $12,000 into his campaign, and his independent campaign headquarters is now housed in the same building. Former Rep. John Sweeney, a Republican operative, is also involved in his write-in campaign.

Soares has always run as a Democrat, but after it became clear that he would face a strong primary challenge from his left, both the Republican Party and the Conservative Party tried to court him.

Bashwinger, the chair of the Albany County Republican Party, said that he spoke to someone on Soares’ campaign in February and suggested running on the Republican line. Bashwinger said that he offered Soares his endorsement ahead of a party member vote that he suspected would have gone swimmingly, but that the Soares campaign politely declined his offer with the reasoning that it wasn’t worth “rocking the boat” with Albany Democrats.

Neither Soares’ current nor former campaign manager said that they were aware of any outreach from the Republican Party, though, and Bashwinger could not be certain of exactly whom he spoke to on the campaign.

Meanwhile, members of the Albany Conservative Party tried and failed to gather enough petitions for Soares to run on the Conservative Party line.

Soares seems unwilling to give up on the Democratic Party, though. His write-in reelection campaign is tied to his belief that his primary loss to Lee Kindlon is a reflection of turnout rather than his standing among Democratic voters. 

But Republicans and Democrats, especially his opponent, are left grasping at what his prolonged presence will mean for the general election. Bashwinger, the county GOP chair, said the race is a “weird one.” 

In fairness, there is an actual Republican running for district attorney: Ralph Ambrosio, a former state trooper and Columbia and Greene County prosecutor. Republicans are only mildly concerned about Soares pulling votes away from Ambrosio and optimistic about what a split Democratic voting base could do for them.  

“Well, now you add that third person in there, which happens to be a Democrat, but he's gonna pull a lot of the old-time Democrats over,” Bashwinger said. “Unfortunately, he's gonna pull some Republicans over too, that's the only thing that I worry about. But I think you're gonna see, it's going to be a closer race than what the Dems think.”

Ambrosio himself is unbothered by Soares’ presence in the race. “I don't think the race has changed much for me,” he said. “I've got some things I have to do. I'm talking to people and my campaign is going very well.”

Soares told City & State earlier this month that he saw his campaign pulling in votes from independents and Republicans as well as Democrats, citing Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown’s successful 2021 campaign as inspiration. But that outlook has drawn skepticism. 

“It's going to be tough for David to win with a write-in, I mean, that would be unbelievable, but I just don't see that many people doing write-ins,” said Bashwinger. 

Kindlon, the Democratic nominee, had stronger words for Soares.

“I know now I basically have to face two Republicans in the general election, and I'm going to make sure everybody knows that there's a stark contrast between my approach to criminal justice, and what I think is appropriate, and the Republican Party's approach to criminal justice, in which they have a felon at the top of their ticket and, you know, these are the values of the party,” Kindlon said. “I'm not entirely sure David has any values except for self preservation.” 

Kindlon’s victory over Soares in the primary was part of a wave of progressive primary strength in Albany County, which coalesced around 109th Assembly District Democratic nominee Gabriella Romero and 107th Assembly District Democratic nominee Chloe Pierce, all of whom were backed by the Working Families Party. 

WFP Co-Director Jasmine Gripper said that her party doesn’t view Soares as a threat going forward. She noted that Soares was originally elected as a progressive reformer and suggested that his story should serve as a cautionary tale.

“This was our guy. We were so excited,” Gripper said. “This was like a really big race for WFP when he was first elected. And then to watch the shift…” 

Soares rose to power in 2004 with the aid of the Working Families Party but his shift towards the right has left the party fed up for years, culminating in primary challenges. “We are always committed to accountability and making sure we keep people in office who are fighting for people and we change the guard when people no longer hold that commitment,” Gripper said.

Political consultant Jack O’Donnell doesn’t see an obvious path forward for Soares, though he conceded that anything is possible in an election. Both he and Gripper rejected the comparison of Soares to Brown, the Buffalo mayor who ran a successful write-in campaign after being defeated by socialist India Walton in a Democratic primary. 

“It was different and Byron didn't receive the same kind of challenges. He hadn't given himself a big, a big raise that he had to give back,” O’Donnell said, referring to the controversy over Soares’ controversial decision to use state funds to award himself a $22,000 bonus.

And even If Soares can flip a decent amount of Republicans, he still will need to make sure people spell his name right, O’Donnell noted.

“If you can do enough voter education, that you can make that part of your thing, maybe there's a hook there,” he said. “But if it's spelled wrong, I mean, we could have a long court fight here about how clear is the voter intent in some of these, so if it's close, it's going to be a long, winding weekend.”