Patricia Fahy

On September 13, 2012, there was a primary election in the Democratic Party[1] to replace the retiring incumbent Jack McEneny, who had been an assemblyman for 20 years. Fahy received 5,335 votes (36.34%) in a crowded field that included Frank J. Commisso, Jr., Christopher T. Higgins, William J. McCarthy, Jr., Jim Coyne and Margarita Perez, as well as write-in candidates.[2] Ted J. Danz, Jr., however, beat Fahy in the Independence Party primary held the same date, 51 to 46%, with some write-ins.[2] Her opponents were all politically well-connected: Commisso, Jr. was a sitting member of the Albany Common Council; Higgins was a sitting member of the Albany County Legislature; McCarthy was an attorney and scion of a well-known family of the area; Perez was a notable local political activist; businessman Danz had been active in local Republican politics for decades.

In the November 2012 general election, Fahy won with 37,967 votes, or almost 63%, on the Democratic and Working Family party lines, against Danz, who received about 32.5% on the Republican and Independence lines, and the perennial candidate and Tea Party activist Joseph P. Sullivan on the Conservative line, who got about 3.5% of the vote.[3]