Niskayuna Supervisor Erin Cassady-Dorion is fighting to hold onto her seat for a full two-year term, facing a challenge from first-time Republican candidate Elizabeth Santana in a race that has been defined almost as much by who hasn't shown up as by who has. Santana, a 45-year-old Bronx native, has declined multiple candidate forums and has yet to appear at a single Niskayuna town board meeting this campaign season, even as she campaigns on promises of transparency and accountability.
Cassady-Dorion, a Democrat, was appointed supervisor in September 2024 after then-Supervisor Jamie Puccioni left office, according to the Daily Gazette. She went on to win the seat outright in 2025, defeating former Republican candidate John Rickert by more than 2,000 votes, according to the Times Union. Rickert chose not to run again this cycle, telling the Gazette, “The timing just wasn’t right for me this time.” That left the door open for Santana, who was the only Republican to file petitions for the race and landed on the ballot without a primary.
A Challenger Who Keeps Her Distance
Santana has declined a proposed Oct. 14 forum hosted by the Schenectady County League of Women Voters, as well as an alternative forum offered by the Niskayuna Democratic committee, per the Gazette's reporting. She has also skipped multiple interview requests from the Gazette News Group. According to the Times Union, Santana said she turned down the Democratic committee's broader debate invitation because she did not want Cassady-Dorion to belittle her.
The two candidates have never debated, the Times Union reports. Santana has said she has spoken with several Democrats who would cross party lines to vote for her, and she intends to keep campaigning in pursuit of what she describes as party unity. She has denied being a placeholder candidate, pushing back on a claim from Niskayuna Republican Committee figure Liz Joy, who told the Gazette in August that Santana entered the race as a placeholder who would not actively campaign.
Santana has said she got into the race after her mother, Hannie Santana, chairwoman of the Niskayuna Republican Committee, struggled to find candidates willing to be interviewed. Hannie Santana has said she stays focused on taxpayer concerns despite disliking some of the commentary surrounding the race. The younger Santana has said she has participated in rallies for Republican politicians alongside her mother since childhood in New York City.
Party Math Favors the Incumbent
Any advantage Santana hopes to build faces a steep registration gap. As of February, Niskayuna had 7,501 registered Democrats compared to 3,608 Republicans, the Gazette reported. Democrats swept the supervisor's office and all four Town Board seats in last November's election, taking full control of town government for the first time since 2017.
Campaign finance filings as of Aug. 4 reflected a similar imbalance: Cassady-Dorion had $7,173 in cash on hand, while Santana had not reported any campaign income to the state Board of Elections at that point, according to the Gazette's reporting.
Taxes, Water Rates and a Pickleball Court
Santana has said the real issues driving the race are high property taxes, high water and sewer fees, concerns about water quality, responsible town spending, and the need for greater transparency and accountability, per the same Gazette account. She has criticized the administration's handling of taxpayer money and wants to return water rates to levels from earlier in the decade. She has also questioned town spending on a pickleball court at Avon Crest Park, a project undertaken during the Puccioni administration. Roughly $275,000 in reimbursable state grant funding was to support several projects, including a dog park, court renovations and baseball-field drainage improvements, according to the Times Union's 2022 reporting. Santana has questioned why the town would fund the court while Niskayuna already has an established pool, whose future off Aqueduct Road the town is weighing.
Cassady-Dorion has countered that the pickleball court is very popular. She proposed a 2027 budget that initially included an 18.5 percent tax increase, a figure she says has since been trimmed down, though she has acknowledged the anticipated increase will still exceed the state-mandated tax cap. Under New York law, a local government board must pass a local law or resolution by at least a 60 percent vote to override that cap, according to the New York State Office of the State Comptroller.
Cassady-Dorion has attributed the town's budget problems partly to revenue decreases and rising fringe-benefit costs, while maintaining that average highway and general-fund appropriations are down 3 percent from the last budget. She insists town finances are healthy despite critics' skepticism and said returning water rates to earlier levels, as Santana proposes, would revive the town's revenue problems. Niskayuna's water rate changes are projected to raise annual charges by roughly $63 per year, with Sewer District 6 charges rising an estimated $54 annually, according to earlier Gazette reporting on town finances. The town's finances have also been a point of debate.
Tone of the Race
Cassady-Dorion has said she would not bully her opponent and remains open to negative feedback, even as she described criticism from a small group of residents, including Republican officials, as not well-intentioned or productive. She said she feels confident in her work and hopes residents will notice what is happening in town. Her stated priorities include Route 7 safety enhancements, securing funding for water-main infrastructure, gradually merging the town's water and sewer departments, and improving economic development to boost revenue, alongside continued digitization of town services. Santana, for her part, has said responsible government means living within one's means, prioritizing essential services and respecting taxpayers.
Whoever wins will serve a two-year term overseeing the town's finances and day-to-day operations in a town where Democrats currently hold the supervisor's office and all four Town Board seats. With no debates held and the campaign clock running out, Niskayuna voters head toward Election Day having heard largely one-sided accounts of where the candidates stand.
