PLATTSBURGH — The Clinton County Democratic Committee has unveiled their 2025 candidates for district attorney, county clerk, county treasurer and some legislator seats.
DISTRICT ATTORNEY
Incumbent District Attorney Andrew Wylie confirmed he will be seeking his sixth consecutive four-year term in office this year. No Republican candidate has entered the race, yet.
“Serving the people of Clinton County over the past 20 years has been an honor to me. Experience truly matters in this role and I have been tough on crime while exercising great discretion in handling sensitive cases,” Wylie said at the Clinton County Government Center where the Democrats introduced candidates Wednesday.
“I am committed to continuing to work with our treatment and diversion courts, ensuring justice and rehabilitation go hand in hand. My record during my tenure speaks for itself. Should I be elected, I will continue to be a prosecutor’s prosecutor. and what that means is I will continue to be involved in the day to day operations of my office, but more importantly, I will continue to be involved in the leadership, the guidance of my staff, appearing in court and prosecuting violent crimes and drug cases as I have throughout my career.”
The DA position is more important now than ever as Clinton County sees a troubling uptick in the number of homicides the past few years, with six coming in 2024 alone.
This fact is not lost on Wylie, who was asked why he wants to stay in a job where he sees and deals with such grotesqueness, especially the recent murders of a mother and daughter that he called the “most devastating homicide we’ve had here.”
“Why do I want to do it? Because it gets me up in the morning,” he said.
“It encourages me to work for the people of this community, of this county … I always say that when I do a trial and the moment that — it doesn’t matter what type of a case I put in — when that note comes from the jury and we have a verdict, I’m still nervous. You never know which way it’s going to go, and the day that I lose that, will be the day that I will walk away from this outfit. I don’t foresee that happening for some time.”
CLERK
Brandi Lloyd, Democratic Deputy Commissioner at the Clinton County Board of Elections for the past 8 years, will once again be seeking the county clerk position come November.
Lloyd, a former town clerk/tax collector in Mooers, first ran for the county clerk seat in 2023, eventually losing to long-time incumbent John Zurlo by less than 1,000 votes.
In December of 2024, in the middle of his seventh term as county clerk, Zurlo passed away at 86 years old, triggering the need for another election this fall.
There are three years left on the term.
“I have over 12 years of dedicated service to our community, working in local government, navigating the complexities of complying with New York state mandates, laws, all (while) remaining within a budget. As your county clerk, we will continue to maintain vital records for the county, ensuring ease of access to you, area abstractors, surveyors and real estate agencies,” Lloyd said.
“In the DMV, we will work to enhance the website, create a family friendly waiting area, look into implementing a take-a-number system to allow customers to comfortably wait and reserve daily time slots for DMV appointments,” she continued.
“The goal is to continue to make the clerk and DMV offices customer centered: you centered. Bottom line, when selected, I will be ready on day one to listen to you, work for you and continue my service to our great community as your county clerk.”
Lloyd said she wasn’t expecting to run again so soon but feels already having gotten her name out there, which was the main goal two years ago, will be beneficial to her current campaign.
“We’re just going to, like I said, keep going on the momentum of that (campaign),” she said.
“I wasn’t expecting to run already, but we’ll embrace the benefits of it hopefully being fresh in everyone’s mind: Brandi Lloyd for county clerk.”
So far, Clinton County Republican Party Chairwoman Jerika Manning is the only other candidate to throw her name in the race. She launched her campaign last week and she is seeking the endorsement of the Clinton County Republican Committee.
TREASURER
The Democratic Committee’s pick for county treasurer is Randy Lozier.
Lozier is currently the tax collector and town clerk for the Town of Beekmantown.
“I believe that the treasurer’s position needs experience and knowledge and I believe I bring both of those,” Lozier said.
“With governmental accounting, we have new laws that are coming in place, they’re getting repealed and coming back, but there’s a lot of changes going on, and I think someone needs to be in the treasurer’s position that has that knowledge.”
The treasurer position became open when Democrat Kimberly Davis resigned late last year to move into the private sector.
The treasurer’s office is being run by Deputy Treasurer Becky Murphy right now.
The election for a new treasurer will be held during the General Election this year on Nov. 4. It will be for a four-year term.
“Ms. Davis has done a phenomenal job keeping the office in a great spot recently, getting 100% on her last audit,” Lozier said.
“So I look forward to continuing that tradition.”
Republican and current County Coroner Chad Deans also announced his candidacy for the treasurer seat last week.
COUNTY SEATS
With Legislators Bobby Hall (D-Area 10, City of Plattsburgh) and Patty Waldron (D-Area 6, Saranac) being term-limited out after this year, several new seats on the Clinton County Legislature are up for grabs this November as well.
Hall said local Democrat David Kerr plans to run for his Area 10 seat. Democrat Daryl Gregory also plans to run for the Area 2 seat on the ballot this year, currently held by Republican Legislator Francis Peryea, Hall said.
“These candidates have been endorsed by the Democratic Party, and we’re really looking forward to them winning,” he said.
“We’ve got something this year that I haven’t seen in the last 12 years that I’ve been a legislator — we have got some excellent people coming out to run in the Democratic Committee and the county, and we need all the help we can get. I’m really proud of the candidates we are going to have.”
Democrats Ron Deragon and Brandy McDonald have also shared their intentions to run for the Area 8 seat — which Paul Lamoy was appointed to for 2025 after Wendell Hughes was elected City of Plattsburgh mayor — potentially setting up a Primary Election in June.
The Area 4 seat, currently held by Democrat David Bezio, is on the ballot in November, too.
No candidate has been announced for Area 6 yet.
“At the end of this month, in February, we will be nominating some other candidates, and it looks really good for candidates,” Hall said.
“We really need somebody up at Patty Waldron’s area to run, somebody that can win that area, because it’s very important.”
At the conclusion of Wednesday’s news conference, Hall made a ringing endorsement of each Democratic candidate.
“If there’s ever a time in Plattsburgh, New York and Clinton County that we need Democrats back in office, it’s now,” he said.