PLATTSBURGH — Clinton County Republican Committee Chairwoman Jerika Manning said she is focusing on moving forward after the recent public spat with U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, NY-21.
“I think that we’ve always been looking for us to move forward,” Manning said Monday.
“For the Clinton County Republican Committee to continue doing its job, continue finding good candidates, putting up good candidates for government, and working together, and we are ready to do that.”
Last week, Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, called on Manning — one of three county Republican chairs who will decide the party’s candidate in the upcoming 115th assembly district special election — to resign from her position as GOP chair, accusing her of trying “to unilaterally disqualify candidates, float placeholders, float herself, and divide the committee.”
Manning, who denied those accusations and said she would “not be intimidated” and “not abandon my responsibility to our voters” by resigning, saw Stefanik in-person for the first time Monday since the back and forth took place.
Stefanik and Manning were both in attendance and stood next to each other during the Monday’s renaming of the Clinton County Government Center in honor of late long-time Clinton County Clerk John Zurlo, who died in December 2024.
Asked after the ceremony if she had talked to Stefanik, Manning said she didn’t and had no plans to meet with her that day either. She said it wasn’t “awkward.”
“This is Clinton County. I’ve lived here my whole life. I was surrounded by people who love John, myself included,” Manning said. “And I think that was the moral of the story today.”
Stefanik told the media Monday as well that she was focused on helping flip the assembly seat from Democrat to Republican when asked about what happened with the committee and its leadership.
“I think voters are going to make their decision as they always do,” she said. “We’re going to focus on flipping that assembly seat and supporting Republicans up and down the ballot. I have 15 counties at one point or another who have been in my district, and we’ve worked through various challenges, and that’ll be the case in this one as well.”
Billy Jones has held the lone Democratic state seat in the North Country since 2017.
Jones announced earlier this month he would be resigning as assemblyman effective Aug. 31. The governor has 90 days from then to call a special election for the seat.
Stefanik had endorsed village of Malone Mayor and Franklin County Legislator Andrea Dumas as the Republican’s candidate a little over a week after Jones’s resignation.
In a statement last week, Clinton County Republican Committee Vice-Chair Jeff Luck said Stefanik’s endorsement was done “without warning” and without seeing if any other candidates were being considered by the committee first.
“Andrea Dumas is a very strong candidate, but they removed from the county committee members any other potential choices that were lined up in the process,” Luck wrote. “Worse, they began an immediate bullying campaign for us to concede the process and remove the freedom of Clinton County Republicans to express their voices. We declined.”
Stefanik said Monday she “was proud to endorse Andrea Dumas, along with State Sen. (Dan) Stec.”
“For a special election where you have a short period of time — Remember, people can weigh in on endorsements or not — I just wanted to make it known that that’s why I strongly supported it and she has support from the Conservative Party as well,” she said.
Her reasoning for the early endorsement, she said, was because Dumas wasn’t being given the chance to present herself as a candidate to the committee.
“It’s important to make sure all candidates have the opportunity to present. That was not the way the process was being run. We believe that’s the best opportunity for them to hear from each of the candidates, or, interested people who want to pursue this,” Stefanik said. “I’ve spoken with each of the candidates directly, and they were very frustrated with not having a fair and open process and now they do have a fair and open process, which is important … for the voters of Clinton County.”
Manning said the fair vetting process of candidates that Stefanik claimed was not happening was always happening.
“From day one that was going to happen, I maintained that was going to happen, there’s no question in my mind, or in the mind of the Clinton County Republican committee,” she said. “I’m glad that everybody agrees and is on the same page now, and we’ll just continue doing what we were doing.”
As previously reported by the Press-Republican, Stefanik was not given a warm welcome in her visit to Plattsburgh on Monday.
Dozens of protestors, holding signs denouncing her and shouting insults and boos, greeted her at the ceremony for Zurlo. She was booed during her speech to the Zurlo family then left the podium only to return minutes later and finish her speech despite the shouts raining down.
Zurlo was the county clerk for 34 years until his death in December 2024 at 86 years old.
She said she didn’t want the protestors to stop her.
“I thought the radicals would calm down out of respect for the Zurlo family,” Stefanik said. “Obviously, they did not do that, but I was not going to let them drown out me talking about how important it is to commemorate John Zurlo’s legacy. So they chose not to calm down, but I wanted to make sure the Zurlo family heard from me.”