Battle for the New York Senate: District 43
Aaron Gladd has worked for both major parties during his time in the political arena. The Army veteran says the Hoosick Falls water crisis is at the forefront of his campaign for the Senate in New York's 43rd District.
"I've lived in a country where I had to put a special pill the water in order to drink it," Gladd said. "That was a war zone. That was a third world country. That place should never exist in the United States and in New York State."
Gladd's also pushing for health care reform. He supports the New York Health Act, which would create a state-run single payer health care system, making it the first in the country. The bill passed the Assembly four years in a row, but has gotten stuck in the Senate each time. Gladd says before voting on the bill, he'd want to tweak it.
"You can't snap your fingers and have a single payer system implemented tomorrow," Gladd said. "Otherwise, taxes are going to go up. When you sit around the table and you negotiate one of these bills, you need small business at the table. We need insurance at the table. We need working families at the table."
The Senate would only need one more vote to put the bill on the governor's desk. But Gladd's opponent says that won't be her. Daphne Jordan says the bill would be too burdensome on the taxpayer, and would limit provider options.
"I live in America," Jordan said. "I want to be able to choose what my health insurance is, not have the government run health care."
Jordan also says she wants to crack down on government corruption, a popular battle cry this election after Gov. Andrew Cuomo's former aide Joe Percoco was convicted for taking bribes in exchange for awarding a state contract.
"I would go even one step further and say to eliminate that kind of corruption that we've witnessed recently by not allowing those that receive grants or state contracts to even donate to political campaigns," Jordan said.
The district has leaned toward Republicans for decades, and could be a key election with the fate of the Senate control in the balance.
