SARATOGA SPRINGS — Some of the same city and county candidates who party-hopped from the Republican and Independence parties to run on the Working Families Party line in 2021 have changed their party affiliation again.
Former WFP candidates, who were unendorsed by the party — Samantha Guerra, David Labate, Gabriel O’Brien, Donald Reeder and Maxwell Rosenbaum — have moved over to the Conservative Party. They are five out of 26 from Saratoga County who have now parted ways with what is traditionally the most left-leaning party to the most right-leaning.
The Times Union was unable to reach the candidates who made the recent move. However, Thomas Sartin, a retired Saratoga Springs police officer who led what the WFP considered a takeover in 2021, also made the switch from the WFP to the Conservatives. On Monday, when asked if he was behind this second wave of change, he said little.
“It’s not anyone’s business,” Sartin said. “I don’t tell people what to do.”
Saratoga County Conservative Party Chair David Buchyn said he doesn’t know what’s going on, but is happy to welcome the new members to the ranks of the party.
“We have gained 131 new members since this past November,” Buchyn said in a text message. “Some of these new members are first-time registered voters. Others have come from other parties.”
Buchyn said he also noticed that many of his new members came from the WFP.
“It is unusual to see even one left-wing extremist WFP member join the Conservative Party, let alone over 20 within a short period of time,” he said.
The 2021 infiltration of GOP members into the WFP was an issue statewide, including in Rensselaer County. There, former GOP members jumped to WFP, doubling the party’s size to roughly 2,000 enrollees. In Saratoga County, the WFP enrollment grew by 30 percent…
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