Two months after leaving the Republican Party to become an independent, Robin Dalton, Saratoga’s current commissioner of public safety, has announced her candidacy for mayor of the city, per WAMC. She joins Democrat Ron Kim, also a former Saratoga public safety commissioner, and business owner Heidi Owen West, an independent who has been endorsed by the city’s GOP, in the race.
“Regardless of party, regardless of affiliation,” Dalton told WAMC, “it’s all about being a Saratogian and being able to have respectful, productive conversations and legislate in a way that moves our city forward in a positive direction.” Though only in her first term as public safety commissioner, Dalton says that navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the nation’s worst public safety crises in recent memory, has given her the equivalent of 10 years experience managing the city.
“We really don’t have time for a learning curve here,” the commissioner told WAMC. “We need someone who is going to come into office who understands what we’re facing and the solutions that we need to work towards and can hit the ground running.”
On April 14, Dalton announced a grassroots effort to establish a new nonpartisan ballot line for the November 2021 called Saratoga Stronger Together, on which both she and commissioner of finance candidate Adam Israel plan to run. Through the creation of the Saratoga Strong Together ballot line, Dalton and Israel hope to “provide an opportunity for Saratogians to put city before party” and reject “divisive politics,” per a statement issued by the Dalton campaign. A petition to establish the ballot line is currently underway at saratogastrong.com.