Catalina Defeats Mayor Mary Foster in Peekskill
By Janine Bowen
Three-term Peekskill Mayor Mary Foster was narrowly defeated Tuesday night by Republican challenger Frank Catalina in the Peekskill mayoral race, according to unofficial results.
“It looks like there will be a new mayor and I will congratulate him,” Foster said after learning the results. “He’s got a lot of work and he’s made a lot of promises so hopefully he fulfills them all. I think the city has done great in the last six years and it’s in a good position to do really great things going forward.“
Catalina won with 52 percent of the vote (1,567-1,458) with 81 percent of the precincts reporting, although a glitch in District 10 means that those vote totals won’t be included until the official count is revealed.
Catalina said he was concerned about the uncounted votes, but was pleased with his showing.
“We’re very excited. We’re very happy about the victory [but] we’re still a little concerned with the uncounted votes in District 10,” he said.
In accepting his victory, Catalina said his first goal as mayor is to reshape the city’s finances.
“This [current] administration has run six straight years of deficits,” he said. “The people have spoken. They don’t want deficit spending. They want the government to live within its means. They don’t want tax hikes and they want an expansion of the tax base through smart and intelligent growth.”
In the Common Council race, with 81% of the votes counted, it was too close to declare the three winners vying for the four-year terms. Republican Joe Torres was in the lead with 1,457 votes, followed by incumbent Democratic Marybeth McGowan with 1,453, Republican Chris Hanzlik with 1,452, Deputy Mayor Drew Claxton with 1,447, Republican Vincent Vesce with 1,418 and incumbent Andrew Torres with 1,374.
In the special election to serve the final two years of former Councilman Don Bennett’s unexpired term, Councilwoman Vivian McKenzie led Republican challenger Leslie Detres 1,340 to 1,281.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
