In Rye’s election for Westchester County Board of Legislators in District 7, incumbent Democrat Catherine Parker is running for her sixth and final two-year term, due to term limits. Her Republican opponent is Katie Manger.

As an experienced legislator, Parker is proud of her environmental advocacy and her support of measures to combat climate change. Recently, she and her colleagues on the Board of Legislators passed $6 million in flood mitigation projects and studies in one day. She noted that while she’s been in office, the County has far exceeded the affordable housing unit goals, including the Vienna senior housing in Rye.

Parker owned and operated her own small retail travel store, Parker’s, in downtown Rye. After helping to restart the Rye Chamber of Commerce as well as the local League of Women Voters, she served on the Rye City Council for six years.

Manger, after a career as an in-house attorney at financial firms in New York City, began representing clients in Westchester on a pro bono basis.

This is her first campaign for elective office after becoming an active member of the Rye Republican Committee. Manger said that with people’s budgets stretched, because of high energy costs, high property, and high school taxes — “Westchester continues to be the highest taxed county in the country” — she will focus on where further savings can be found and costs trimmed in the County budget. She will also work to promote local investment, entrepreneurship, and investment. 

As Manger has emphasized throughout her campaign, she will work “to keep how and where new housing is developed a local decision and not one controlled by politicians outside of our communities.”

The Westchester County Board of Legislators is the legislative, policy-making branch of county government. The key financial powers of the Board are appropriating funds, approving the budget, and levying taxes. 

The Board also approves appointments by the County Executive (currently Rye resident George Latimer) and passes local laws, acts, and resolutions. The 2023 County budget totaled $2.365 billion, the Latimer administration’s fourth consecutive tax cut. 

The Board’s seventeen Legislators are elected every two years, and each currently represents a district of approximately 56,000 residents. Currently, 15 of them are Democrats, one is a Republican, and one is a Conservative who caucuses as a Republican. 

Legislative District 7 includes all of Rye, Mamaroneck, and Larchmont, as well as parts of New Rochelle and Harrison.