SULLIVAN COUNTY  — With Election Day just a few weeks away, the Sullivan County Republican Committee rallied behind their party’s candidates at their annual Gala last Saturday.

This year, the committee held their gathering at Resorts World Catskills, inviting a number of speakers to deliver their message ahead of the ballot. Joining the keynote speaker, US Senate candidate Mike Sapraicone was Congressman Marc Molinaro (NY-19), 101st District Assemblyman Brian Maher and candidate for the 100th Assembly District, Lou Ingrassia Jr.

Sapraicone, who is challenging Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D) for her seat, detailed his personal history as a retired first-grade detective who worked within the New York Police Department of 20 years, in addition to being a small business founder of 30 years. He spoke on his upbringing, that being in a one-bedroom apartment in Queens. With this background, he noted his call to service with a focus of retaining New York’s population and smaller businesses.

“We have to get back to the common sense,” he said, hitting notes of concern over border security and mass transportation of people to NYC and surrounding areas. “I believe crime and illegal immigration is one in the same – it is a domino effect.”

Sapraicone said that in the last seven years, “over 43 cop killers have been released on parole due to Governor Kathy Hochul and former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administrations” – a statistic that pulls at his heart strings as a retired member of law enforcement.

Sapraicone noted that getting back to “common sense” laws was integral for the future of the nation and of the State of New York.

Looking at the current political landscape in Albany, Assembly candidate Ingrassia similarly expressed the necessity in electing Republicans to legislative bodies.

“We need to break the supermajority, sit at the table and not negotiate in the hallways,” Ingrassia said.

In addition to rallying around the candidates, speakers were united on the platform’s stance on various issues, especially that of New York’s Proposition One, a bill that would codify gender-based protections into the New York State Constitution – a proposal that Assemblyman Maher called “very, very dangerous,” as he said it poses a threat to parental rights and women’s sports.

Another topic still fresh on the minds of members of the party is that of cashless bail, of which Congressman Molinaro slammed in his address to the attendees. 

Expressing concern for the general safety of the 700,000 people living in the 19th District, Molinaro emphasized that “it is going to take all of us to win in November,” and urged all to go out to vote to “make America great again.”