State Senator George Latimer has yet to formally announce that he is running for a third term representing the 37th district, but Rye City Councilwoman Julie Killian, a Republican, announced her intention to run for the seat last Friday at a press conference at Rye Town Park.
By Robin Jovanovich
State Senator George Latimer has yet to formally announce that he is running for a third term representing the 37th district, but Rye City Councilwoman Julie Killian, a Republican, announced her intention to run for the seat last Friday at a press conference at Rye Town Park.
Latimer, a Democrat, first ran for public office in 1987, winning a seat on the Rye City Council. Four years later, he was elected to the Westchester County Board of Legislators, where he served seven terms, and chaired the Board for two of them. In 2004, Latimer ran for State Assembly 91st district and won handily. He was reelected three times by substantial margins.
When longtime State Senator Suzi Oppenheimer (D), in 2012, decided to retire at the end of her term that year, Latimer picked up the gauntlet. He is the Ranking Member of the State Education Committee.
Asked why he hadn’t announced his bid for reelection yet, Latimer told the paper, “Right now I have a job to do in Albany getting the budget passed. One of the things I’m fighting for is school budget money.”
In making her announcement to run, Killian said that “reforming Albany” is at the top of her agenda. She is a proponent of term limits. She stated her desire to work for tax and mandate relief. Killian is serving in her second term as a Councilmember and is currently Rye’s Deputy Mayor.
Latimer said he stands on his bipartisan record. “I’m not looking through the world as a Democrat. I view myself as the same person I was when first elected to public office, and I will continue to be that person and remain focused on the communities I serve.”
And in addition to the City of Rye, those communities include the Town of Rye, Mamaroneck, Harrison, Yonkers, New Rochelle, Eastchester, White Plains, North Castle, and Bedford.
