Hugh T. Farley will be running for State Senator of the new District 49 in the Tuesday, November 6 general election against Democrat Madelyn C. Thorne.
Senator Farley, a Republican, will also be running on the Conservative and Independence Party lines.
Farley, a native of the Adirondacks, represented Hamilton County for his first sixteen years in office, and because of the redistricting he hopes to be elected to represent Hamilton County again, and parts of Herkimer for the first time.
If elected, Farley will represent the second largest district in New York, which encompasses Saratoga, Schenectady, Fulton, Hamilton and Herkimer counties, and he will be considered the senior senator.
“I am very excited about getting Herkimer and Hamilton counties in my district. I grew up in Indian Lake in Hamilton county, and I represented it in my first terms in the Senate,” Senator Farley said.
Beginning his political career in 1970, Senator Farley’s first position was as a Councilmember, and later, Council Majority Leader in the Town of Niskayuna.
His first run for state office resulted in the defeat of the incumbent candidate in the race for State Senate in 1976.
Subsequently, he has been re-elected every two years.
“I am a lawyer and a law professor, but I have enjoyed very much my legislative career. I have been chairman of many, many committees. I am in leadership in the senate right now, and hope to remain that way,” he said.
During the 2011-2012 legislative session, Farley was appointed vice-chair of the Senate Banks Committee, as well as appointed to the Committees for Aging, Education, Ethics, Health, Finance, Rules, and Social Services.
He is also the current Chairman of Majority Program Development and serves as chairman of the Select Committee on Libraries.
As a former basketball player for Indian Lake High School, Senator Farley said he has fond memories of growing up in the area with his six brothers, of saloons in Eagle Bay, and the beaches on Blue Mountain Lake.
He visited Old Forge during the summer, and made mention of the heavy traffic and the vitality of the business community. He said he looks forward to visiting the area again prior to the November election—and again for the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
“Senator James L. Seward (who represented the Old Forge area prior to redistricting) has been my seatmate for many years and he tells me that he looks forward to marching in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade every year. And being an Irishman—I’m looking forward to it too,” Senator Farley said.
