Party filings propel Enfield incumbents toward reelection; prospects for primaries, fall face-offs dim
by Robert Lynch; April 3, 2025
Unless one or more independent candidates suddenly emerge from the political thicket, this November’s elections in Enfield—and for that matter, in much of Tompkins County—could prove not worth the bother. As it stands now, with party petitioning completed and documents filed, all incumbents now holding Enfield Town office would win reelection unopposed.
What’s more, in the two Tompkins County Legislature races Enfield voters get to decide, in neither instance would any voter be given a choice.
Republican Randy Brown faces no Democratic or intra-party competition in the district that represents Enfield’s southern half. Ulysses political newcomer Rachel Ostlund confronts neither a primary challenger nor a Republican rival in her bid to succeed the retiring incumbent, Anne Koreman, who represents Enfield’s northern neighborhoods on the Legislature.
Thursday, April third marked the state-dictated deadline for party Designating Petitions to be filed.
In Enfield, incumbent three-term Town Supervisor Stephanie Redmond was the only party designee, Democrat or Republican, to file for the office she now holds. Redmond’s fellow Democrats Jude Lemke and Cassandra Hinkle filed unimpeded for new terms as well.
No Republicans petitioned to challenge the incumbent Democrats on the Enfield Town Board. And no other Democrats petitioned to challenge Redmond, Lemke or Hinkle either.
Similarly, no political drama has emerged in races for other Enfield town offices.
Republican Barry “Buddy” Rollins has petitioned for this, his ninth consecutive term as Highway Superintendent. Rollins was first elected to oversee Enfield’s roads in 2009. Two years ago, Rollins faced a challenge from within his party. But opponent Chris Willis lost that race badly. This year, neither Willis nor anyone else from either party has chosen to run against Rollins.
Likewise, Town Clerk Mary Cornell appears headed toward easy reelection. Only Cornell petitioned for Town Clerk, an office she’s held since her appointment in 2021 to fill a sudden vacancy.
In the repeat of a procedure that equates to “I’ll scratch your back, if you’ll scratch mine,” Enfield Democrats and Republicans have cross-endorsed Republican Rollins and Democrat Cornell for re-election. The parties had employed the same practice two years ago.
And this time, Republicans also cross-endorsed Jude Lemke for Councilperson. The GOP did not provide a similar cross-endorsement for Supervisor Redmond or Councilperson Hinkle.
An important change affecting several Enfield offices takes hold this cycle. Some terms of office will carry extended length.
Voters last year approved extending future terms for Enfield Supervisor, Highway Superintendent and Town Clerk from two years to four. Under normal circumstances, that would mean candidates elected to those positions this fall would serve through 2029. However, a state law aimed at conforming most local elections to even-numbered years, the same as for the President or Governor, will force a one-time shortening of the new terms to just three years.
The state law enacting the change faces a legal challenge. The case is currently before New York’s highest Court.
The petition filing completed Thursday assures there’ll be no Enfield political primary this June 24th. And while the party designations just filed point to an off-year Enfield election that would become little more than a coronation of the incumbents, what occurs within the next few weeks could lessen that certainty.
Any Enfield registered voter—Democrat, Republican or Independent—can petition for an independent line on the November ballot. The separate, later petitioning process bypasses a party primary and also enables unaffiliated voters—those not registered under any party banner—to participate in the political process.
Independent petitioning begins April 15 and concludes May 27. The Tompkins County Board of Election’s website indicates that 67 valid petition signatures will get an Enfield candidate onto the November 4th General Election ballot.
In neighboring Newfield, at least on the Republican side, a spark of political life exists. Three Republicans, incumbent Christine Seamon, and challengers Michael Corbett and Christopher Hyer Jr., have petitioned for two seats on the Newfield Town Board. There’ll need to be a primary.
Enfield stands not alone in demonstrating an inherent lack of candidate fervor at this point in the off-year cycle. In the race for Tompkins County Legislature, to be newly-expanded to 16 members, as many as 13 of those seats will see no competition this year, either in the June primary or later in the General Election.
In only one district, that representing northern Lansing, is a Republican-Democrat match-up assured. In that district, Lansing Republican Mike Sigler, on tap to become the Legislature’s longest-serving member, faces a Democratic challenger, James Perkins.
One Ithaca City district, the one held until recent days by Democrat Susan Currey, faces a two-way primary contest for the Democratic nomination. But it has no Republican contest in the fall.
The Caroline-Danby district to be vacated by the Legislature’s current chairman, Dan Klein, faces the fiercest intra-party battle. Three Democrats, Irene Weiser, Kyle Emily Erikson, and Matt Sullivan, have filed to represent Klein’s newly-numbered District 13. Still, no Republican has petitioned for the legislative seat there.
Thursday’s petition filings confirmed one heretofore unreported fact. One-term Republican County Legislator Lee Shurtleff will seek a second term in his Groton-based District 9. To date, Shurtleff had been silent as to his reelection intentions. His district is perhaps the most ruby-red of any in Tompkins County.
With long-time legislator Mike Lane’s planned retirement at years end, one could speculate about the prospects for a Republican pick-up in Lane’s eastern Dryden district. But unless a Republican runs as an independent this year, it will not happen.
In 2021, his most recent re-election run, Democrat Lane won by a mere eight votes in a nail-biter of a contest. It ended with a count of absentee ballots. With Lane now departing and with District 10 ripe for picking, one would expect Republicans to compete fiercely. But Thursday’s filings revealed that only Democrat Dan Wakeman will seek to become Mike Lane’s successor. Wakeman faces no challenge.
Indeed, based on party petitioning alone, Republicans hold no hope for expanding their meager minority status on the Tompkins County Legislature. Only current incumbents Sigler, Shurtleff, and Randy Brown filed petitions to secure GOP ballot lines. Republican influence would weaken further by the fact that the Legislature will expand from 14 to 16 members next year. Add to that the reality that Sigler must hold back a Democratic challenge in the fall.
Thursday’s political filings left one bit of unfinished business: Who will represent Legislative District twelve?
No candidate, Republican or Democrat, has filed a designating petition for the County Legislature in District 12, situated in the southeastern corner of the Town of Ithaca. One presumes an independent candidate will file for the seat during subsequent petitioning. If not, the seat would head into the fall unfilled.
But back to Enfield: Unless something unexpected occurs these next two months—either an independent candidate emerges, or some last-minute write-in candidacy takes flight—the 2025 off-year elections may find themselves tempting to ignore. There’d be no debates, no yard signs, and no candidates knocking at one’s door. Those on the ballot would have no need to do so. They could coast.
Some may find that kind of a respite from politics a welcome relief. But elections are held for a purpose; to compare and contrast; to make meaningful choices, to chart a community’s future direction. Again, unless something changes, expect little of that to happen this time around.
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