WBFO: So, what's cooking ahead of Election Day, specifically in Wyoming County?
Matt Surtel: Several interesting races as a matter of fact are underway. One of them is unopposed but it's at the county level, and it will have significance for basically everybody who lives there. And that would be Don O’Geen, he’s the current district attorney and is running for judge position. He is running unopposed. He will be replacing outgoing judge Mike Mohan is retiring. Dan has been at work, I think about 20 years in the county, and he's handled some big cases.
WBFO: What's the significance there, just a new guy coming in, got his plans?
Surtel: Dan has handled some significant cases over the years, some notable cases, at least as a district attorney. He's had a reputation I think has been fairly aggressive toward I don't want to use the term aggressive. But he goes, he has had an interest, so to speak, or he has enforced the law very effectively against sexual predators and murder cases. serious cases of village nature, he's always been very diligent about pursuing those. He's going to be taking on a judge role now. So, it'll be interesting to see how he evolves as a judge.
WBFO: Any other interesting races that you have been keeping your eye on?
Surtel: There are three races in Wyoming County, all at the town level for supervisory positions that are opposed. One of the most basic races that's shaping up is you have incumbent Republican Bryan Kehl, he’s going to be squaring off against Democratic challenger, Jim Miller, in Attica, so that's going to be one of the interesting ones. So, a classic Democrat Republican race in the Town of Pike. You have a three-way race for supervisor and it's notable on that aspect. You have Republican Daniel Conklin challenged by Pike's Pride Party candidate Tammy Ryan, and Eric Smith is running on the Best for Pike line. It is a rural area, and Wyoming County is known, at least back in 2016, for being big supporters of Donald Trump. So, you can see there are no Democratic candidates but three people running in the Town of Pike for supervisor which is pretty interesting. In the Town of Castile you also have an interesting race. Dan Klein received the GOP endorsement for supervisor, the incumbent Joesph Gozelski, also Republican. So now he’s running as a write-in candidate. So we're going to see how that works out too.
WBFO: Is the incumbent Joseph Gozelski, was he pretty popular?
Surtel: Both are pretty well known. They only live a couple miles away from each other. As a matter of fact, they have very similar backgrounds. Joe Gozelski is retired potato farmer. Dan Klein is a dairy farmer. So, both Republicans, both known for very similar outlets, I would say in terms of fiscal responsibility for the towns and so it'll be interesting to see who takes it.”
WBFO: You said Wyoming County, skews Republican, it was a big Trump County, the number of uncontested and contested races looks a lot like one Republican running against another Republican. Is that just the way it's always been out there?
Surtel: I think you've seen it change over the past 20 years or so. I would say Wyoming County always tended in a lot of ways to be Republican. But there were some Democratic strongholds over the past 20 years or so. Some towns have definitely gone or Republican. You don't see as many Democratic candidates or some places that were traditionally Democrat, I might say like the town of Eagle used to have a strong Democratic Party. You just don't see it. You don't see Democratic candidates quite as much as you used to.
Contested races in Wyoming County
Town of Attica
-Supervisor: James Miller (D); Bryan Kehl (R)
Town of Castile
-Supervisor: Stan Klein (R); Joseph Gozelski (write-in)
Town of Pike
-Supervisor: Daniel Conklin (R); Tammy Ryan (Pike’s Pride Party); Eric Smith (Best for Pike)
Town of Warsaw
-Library Trustees: Peter Robinson (D); Elizabeth Fox (R); Michele Teichner (D); Jason Linderman (R)
-Council: Cameron Marsh (D); Chris Lonneville (R); Davis Mateer (R)
