Democrat, Republican seek to unseat Stefanik
Wilton resident Ezra Watson, a Democrat, and Republican Lonny Koons, of Catharge, are challenging U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville.
by Michael Goot
Both a Democrat and a Republican have announced challenges to unseat U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik — 18 months before the next election.
Wilton resident Ezra Watson has filed official paperwork with the Federal Election Commission. Lonny Koons, who lives in Carthage in Jefferson County, says he plans to seek the Republican nomination, but has not filed paperwork.
Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, is serving her fourth term representing the NY-21 Congressional District, which covers all of Warren, Washington, Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties and portions of Saratoga and Herkimer counties.
Looming over this run is redistricting, which is going to occur because New York will lose one congressional seat. Which seat is eliminated remains to be seen.
Ezra Watson
Watson said he is running for Congress because he believes that Stefanik has not been aggressive enough to combat climate change.
“We need to meet a goal of 50% carbon reduction by 2030 — less than 10 years. That’s very aggressive. In order to reach that, there really is no action too bold,” he said in a Zoom interview on Tuesday.
Watson said Stefanik does not support the Green New Deal. He supports a tax on carbon emissions in the range of $200 per ton of emissions.
Watson suggested that one way to combat climate change is for farmers in the district to embrace sustainable farming practices. He would also like to see a big expansion of wind and solar energy through tax credits.
Watson said he also supports a universal basic income idea of the kind advocated by 2020 presidential candidate and current New York City mayoral hopeful Andrew Yang. Watson believes that the economy will shift more toward automation and some workers will need to learn new skills.
Guaranteeing a minimum income will help people in that transition, according to Watson.
Watson said he also wants to focus on the addiction crisis, which he believes has been exacerbated by the pandemic. He supports Medicare for All, which would cover in-patient rehabilitation.
He would like to see free college education for public higher education institutions.
Watson supports an increase in the corporate tax rate to generate some tax revenue for some of these priorities.
Watson, 45, currently works as a semiconductor equipment engineer at SUNY Polytechnic Institute. He is married with one child in kindergarten.
He said he was spurred to run for office after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and former President Donald Trump leaving office. He noted that the district did not support Trump as strongly in 2020 as in 2016, and Watson saw an opportunity for a progressive Democratic such as himself. However, he stressed he is a capitalist.
“I believe in the power of a free market, but I put people on top of the list, our well-being over profits,” he said.
Watson acknowledged it will be an uphill climb as Stefanik beat Democratic challenger Tedra Cobb 58% to 41% in November’s election.
Also, Stefanik has a large amount of cash on hand — $2.5 million as of March 30.
He has raised some money, but not at the threshold where he has to file an FEC report.
Watson said he was not aware any other Democrats declaring as candidates for NY-21 at this point.