Mt. Kisco Democrat Explores Run for 40th State Senate Seat
A former state Supreme Court and Appellate Division justice is the latest candidate mulling a run against state Sen. Terrence Murphy (R-Yorktown) this fall in the 40th Senate District.
Robert Spolzino, 58, a Mount Kisco Democrat, said he will decide in the coming weeks whether he will enter the fray in hopes of challenging Murphy, a two-term incumbent. Currently, the only Democrat who has committed to a candidacy for the seat is South Salem resident Robert Kesten.
“I will make up my mind, but I am considering it,” Spolozino confirmed on Monday morning.
He did not reveal when he may make his decision, but noted that currently most county and state Democrats are focused on retaining Westchester County Executive George Latimer’s old 37th Senate District seat. Longtime Assemblywoman Shelley Mayer (D-Yonkers) will square off against former Rye city councilwoman Julie Killian in an Apr. 24 special election.
Spolzino said he may run for the seat because the Senate needs a Democratic majority to ensure that the legislature doesn’t stand by idly on a host of issues as resources from the Republican-dominated Congress and the Trump Administration are in danger of drying up for states like New York.
“The Republicans are the party of the wealthy and the party of the NRA and I think the public and the voters all understand that,” Spolzino said.
While the Democrats do have a majority by party affiliation, eight state Senate Democrats are part of the Independent Democratic Conference and are aligned with the GOP.
Spolzino, an attorney currently practicing with the law firm of Smith, Buss & Jacobs, LLP of Yonkers, was elected in 2001 to a 14-year term to serve on the state Supreme Court. He was elevated by former governor George Pataki in 2004 to the Appellate Division and served in that seat until he resigned in 2009. He said he left the bench for the more lucrative private practice as college expenses for his son approached.
If Spolzino does decide to enter the race, this would be his second candidacy for the state legislature. He ran unsuccessfully as a Republican in 1994 for the state Assembly.
He also served about seven years from the late 1980s into the 1990s as Mount Kisco village attorney and was on the board of Northern Westchester Hospital for 10 years, including four years as chairman.
Spolzino re-registered as a Democrat in 2008. He said the GOP, which had fought for middle class issues has largely abandoned that role.
Since Kesten announced his candidacy early last fall, he has been holding public forums on varioud issues throughout the 40th Senate District. Spolzino called Kesten “a good man,” but believes his own professional background and community service make him a stronger candidate. During his time on the bench Spolzino said he ruled on about 4,000 appeals in the Appellate Division and decided on cases as a matrimonial trial justice before that.
“I think I bring more to the table in governmental experience than he does,” Spolzino said.
Another Democrat, New Castle Councilman Jeremy Saland, had also flirted with the idea of running for the seat earlier this winter, but decided to abandon a candidacy a couple of weeks ago citing likely scheduling conflicts with family and career.
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