Greenfield enters race for 19th Congressional District

Steve Greenfield, running as an independent candidate on the Green Party line, has thrown his hat into the ring for this year’s race for the 19th Congressional District.

The seat is held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado.

In addition to Delgado and Greenfield, four Republicans are on the ballot competing in the primary in June. They are Tony German, Ola Hawatmeh, Mike Roth and Kyle Van De Water, according to ballotpedia.org.

Delgado was elected in 2018 after defeating former congressman John Faso, a Republican who served one term from 2017 to 2019. Members of Congress serve 2-year terms.

Delgado does not have a Democratic challenger in the primary race at this time.

Greenfield announced the launch of his campaign Monday. He also ran for the seat as a Green Party candidate in 2018, the year Delgado won his first term in office.

Greenfield, 58, has lived in New Paltz since 2001. He is originally from New York City. He served as a volunteer firefighter for 16 years, a two-term member of the school board in New Paltz, and he serves as a community member of the Legislative Action Committee. He is married with three teenage children. Greenfield has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Columbia University.

“The incumbent member of Congress in New York’s 19th District, Democrat Antonio Delgado, has voted to continue all of our non-defensive wars and occupations, which have already consumed over $7 trillion in public funds, and killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people,” Greenfield said.

Greenfield also opposes Delgado’s voting record on federal spending.

“He has proposed nothing to alleviate the grinding poverty, and the large-scale crime and early death it imposes on millions of Americans every year, including here in the 19th District, where the poverty rate is higher, and household income lower, than the national average,” Greenfield added.

Delgado declined to comment on Greenfield’s announcement Tuesday.

Agriculture, climate change, renewable energy, health care, mass incarceration of minorities, public education and infrastructure are also at the top of Greenfield’s list of issues.

“These are universal human interests. They know no party or cultural boundaries, and affect everyone,” Greenfield said.

He pledged not to accept donations “from Wall Street, from the fossil fuel industry, from war profiteers, from the private prison industry, or anyone else who profits from human suffering and environmental devastation, including their lawyers and lobbyists,” Greenfield said.

The primary election will take place June 23, and the general election is Nov. 3.

The 19th Congressional District covers 11 counties, including Greene and Columbia, as well as Delaware, Otsego, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster, and parts of Broome, Dutchess, Montgomery and Rensselaer counties.