Day 36

It's Day 36 of my 43-stop tour of the 43rd District and I'm more encouraged every day that I spend meeting and speaking to the people who live and work in Rensselaer and Saratoga counties. The past few days, I have had breakfast in  Nassua; I was in Mechanicville for a picnic;  and met with Rensselaer County and Saratoga County residents who are my neighbors, friends and associates. Everywhere I go, I hear the same from them: "We are fed up with Albany's nonsense." 
So how is that I am encouraged? The answer is everywhere. It's in the voices of so many young people I meet who still believe that the right, hard-working elected official can make a difference, and who ask how they can help. It's in the conversations I have with local small business owners who, through their frustrations that their own elected officials aren't delivering on their needs, are quick to offer positive suggestions and encouragement. And it's in the help I am offered every day by seniors who are worried about their communities, their own future and the future we leave to their grandchildren - and who will invest time in getting others out to vote for a candidate they know has the same priorities.
So, I am encouraged by the positive spirit of people of the 43rd District. They are frustrated. They are angry. But they won't turn their backs. Instead, they want to work hard to support a candidate they know will represent them full-time, with their interests at the core of every initiative and every vote.
I'm frustrated too. I'm fed up and angry over what's gone on, and not gone on, in Albany. And I too refuse to turn my back. Instead, I'm fighting to clean up Albany. I'm working so the people of the 43rd District have a representative they can count on. And I'm pushing hard so that I, your next Senator, leaves our region in a better, stronger, more viable place for my children and yours.