Cortlandt Councilwoman Launches Bid for State Senate
Cortlandt Councilwoman Debbie Carter Costello announced her bid last week to challenge incumbent State Senator Terrence Murphy (R/Yorktown) in the 40th District in November.
Carter Costello is the second Democrat to throw her hat in the ring, coming a few weeks after Putnam County resident Andrew Falk made his intentions known.
“Community service and civic engagement have always been a priority for me,” Carter Costello said. “As a lifelong resident of this district, I am excited about the opportunity to represent my neighbors in Albany and work to improve the lives of all the people in our diverse towns and villages.”
The 40th Senate District, which Murphy has served for the last 14 months, includes the towns of Beekman, Pawling and the village of Pawling in Dutchess County, the towns of Carmel, Patterson and Southeast, and the village of Brewster in Putnam County, and the city of Peekskill, the towns of Cortlandt, Lewisboro, Mount Pleasant, New Castle, North Salem, Pound Ridge, Somers and Yorktown, the town/village of Mount Kisco, and the villages of Briarcliff Manor, Buchanan, Croton-on-Hudson, Pleasantville and Sleepy Hollow in Westchester County.
Carter Costello, whose father, Edward Carter, also served on the Cortlandt Town Board and owned a funeral home in town, is currently in the third year of her first four-year term as a councilwoman. In 2009, she ran unsuccessfully for Cortlandt town clerk as a Republican/Conservative.
“As a senator, I will continue to support veterans, seniors, and underserved youth, as I have done in my roles on the Cortlandt Town Council and on the Westchester County Youth Board,” she said. “It is important that we make New York more affordable for everyone and ensure that our most vulnerable constituents receive the support and resources that they deserve.”
She also pointed out of the 63 sitting senators in Albany, only 12 are women.
“We need to change that,” Carter Costello said. “Albany is plagued by corruption and if elected, I pledge to be a full-time legislator focused only on needs of my constituents and not on the agendas of Albany insiders. I will prioritize passing meaningful ethics reform, supporting our middle class families and small business owners, fighting tirelessly for better public education, and providing the residents of our district with the resources and services that they deserve.”
Carter Costello’s candidacy was endorsed by Cortlandt Supervisor Linda Puglisi, Cortlandt Councilman Dr. Richard Becker and state Assemblywoman Sandra Galef (D/Ossining).
Carter Costello founded the Hendrick Hudson Leos Club and created the Stay-Awake-A-Thon, an annual event at Hendrick Hudson High School that has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight cancer and help patients in the community.
Falk, a Patterson resident who has fallen short in three attempts at elected office, welcomed Carter Costello into the race, saying, “It is exciting there is consensus that we can do better than our current Senator Terrence Murphy. This is an opportunity to bring attention to the race and I look forward to meeting with and listening to more people in our district, and being part of the strong grassroots movement that will win this Senate seat.”
However, Scott Reif, a spokesperson for the Senate GOP, criticized Falk and Carter Costello, remarking, “The Democrats must really be struggling when the two candidates for this seat are lawyer-lobbyist Andrew Falk, who took $770,000 from Sheldon Silver during his three failed campaigns, and Councilwoman Debbie Carter-Costello, who raised taxes twice and increased spending by more than twice that amount in her first five minutes on the job. This is a fight to see which of them can be more out-of-touch with Hudson Valley families and work hand-in-hand with Mayor de Blasio and the New York City special interests who want to use our hard-earned taxpayer dollars on political campaigns and to give free college tuition to illegal immigrants.”
Murphy struck a more positive tone about his potential opponents. “At the end of the day the people will decide. I’ll put my record of cutting taxes, increasing school funding, and authoring and passing new bipartisan laws that protect our water supply and give new benefits to our veterans up against anyone,” he said.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
