SARATOGA SPRINGS — Mayor Ron Kim preserved his spot on the Democratic ticket in Tuesday’s primary by defeating his long-time supporter Chris Mathiesen by a wide margin.
According to Kim’s campaign manager, the incumbent overtook the former commissioner of public safety in an unofficial vote tally of 864 to 566. Kim said the win shows that voters want more of what he has to offer, moving the city, which he says is more progressive, in that direction.
“We are going to continue to make progress on the goals we set for this administration.,” Kim said. “We are out there, talking to voters, listening to them. That’s what this is all about. That’s what it’s all about. … What I have been doing with my staff every day is what our voters want to see.”
Mathiesen, who is still running in November for mayor as a One Saratoga endorsed candidate, said he will continue to campaign for mayor. He also congratulated Kim and thanked all those who worked on his campaign.
“We did well but we didn’t do well enough to win,” Mathiesen said. “We have our One Saratoga line so all is not lost.”
Mathiesen has said he always supported Kim, but ssdecided to challenge the mayor after being disappointed by some of Kim’s actions, for example, moving the city’s director of risk and safety from the account’s office into the mayor’s office and allowing Black Lives Matter activists to disrupt two City Council meetings. Mathiesen, a 72-year-old retired dentist, felt the activists should be removed.
Kim, a 63-year-old attorney, doesn’t like how Mathiesen’s handled the Darryl Mount, Jr. incident. In August 2013, a biracial 20-year-old was pursued on foot by the police, allegedly fell from a 19-foot scaffold and suffered injuries that eventually took his life. At the time of the incident, Mathiesen was the commissioner of public safety and did not order an internal investigation….
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