Anthony Morelli won Clifton Park's Town/County Supervisor race by roughly 800 votes, according to unofficial results. Morelli, a Republican attorney and former deputy town supervisor, received 9,223 votes to Democrat Ram Mohan Lalukota's 8,400 out of more than 17,000 cast, and he will succeed longtime supervisor Phil Barrett.
The tally, reported by saratogian.com, shows Morelli's total came from 7,823 votes on the Republican line and 1,400 on the Conservative line, while Lalukota's came from 7,681 votes on the Democratic line and 719 on the Working Families line. The Times Union cautioned that results across Saratoga County remain unofficial and could change as election officials count additional ballots, including mail and affidavit ballots.
Morelli, 52, and Lalukota, 55, were the candidates in the race.
A Seat Barrett Left Open
The race opened up after Barrett announced in January that he would not seek reelection as Clifton Park supervisor. His departure set up a contest for one of the county's most consequential local offices, since the supervisor also casts a weighted vote on the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors based on the town's population.
That weighted-vote math is exactly why Democrats had circled Clifton Park as a potential turning point.
Other Clifton Park Results
Democrats saw an opportunity to gain the upper hand in Saratoga County's weighted vote.
In a separate county-board race, Democrat Ram Lalukota beat Republican Julian Febo for Clifton Park's other seat on the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors, as reported by WAMC. Martin O'Connor defeated Chad Gregory in another Clifton Park race.
Voters also chose supervisors in Malta, Milton, Moreau, Wilton, Day, Hadley, Halfmoon and Northumberland.
A Town Still Trending Blue
Clifton Park's own town board tells a different story than its county representation. Democrats there won a majority on the five-member board for the first time in 34 years after Nancy Bellamy and Mario Fantini defeated Republican candidates Chad Gregory and incumbent Anthony Morelli in the November 2025 election, according to WAMC. That shift followed a period when WAMC reported Democrats had gained a number of seats on the county board in that same election.
Martha Devaney discussed balance and fair representation. The county's voter rolls have been moving in that direction for some time: a Times Union analysis found Saratoga County's registered Democrats increasing over the years while Republican registration stayed relatively flat, and the same analysis noted that before the 2025 elections, Democrats could have held a county-board majority in the population-weighted vote even while remaining a minority of the 23 town supervisors, had every county Democratic Committee-endorsed candidate won.
Money flowed overwhelmingly toward the county GOP in the run-up to this year's elections. State Board of Elections data cited by the Times Union showed Saratoga County Republicans raised $139,748 in 2025, compared with $27,138 raised by Democrats.
The county GOP chair blamed “Trump hate” for Democratic wins. Times Union staff writer Wendy Liberatore covered the race for the paper.
