County Democratic leaders and activists at the party's Election Night watch party Tuesday at Assembly in Uptown Kingston were, predictably, over the moon as the national map of office holders turned increasingly blue throughout the evening.

The fall of Texas drew the crowd's loudest burst of cheers though, closer to home, GOP Representative Mike Lawler's defeat at the hands of Cait Conley, a combat veteran and out lesbian, seemed to provoke the most glee — schadenfreude in excelsis.

Wish lists were in no shortage among the evening's speakers, with new political power now close at hand.

“We have gotten awfully good at defense,” party co-host U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan told the crowd. 'We've defended our values. We've defended each other. We've defended what it really means to be a patriot, to be an American at a moral level.”

“But I am so sick of being on defense,” he went on. “So starting tonight with this win, with a lot of other wins to come, we are going on offense on behalf of the world … First and foremost, we're going to impeach Pete Hegseth. Not only because I personally detest him, but because he's the most incompetent and immoral secretary of defense we've had in American history … Number two, stop and repeal and roll back the tariffs that have been punishing our small businesses and get the money back to you and to them. We're going to again reassert ICE will stay the hell out of the Hudson Valley, and we will not send another dollar to that agency.”

“Reasserting Congress' constitutional authority and ending the illegal war in Iran,” topped County Executive Jen Metzger's list, texted to Kingston Wire. Like Ryan, she called for repeal of the Trump tariffs and defunding ICE. “Those would have big impacts on the well-being of our community,” she said, "on our local economy, for property taxpayers, for the fiscal health of county government and our democracy.”

Metzger also offered a note of caution. “The election is a total repudiation of Trump and his enablers in Congress,” she said. “But of course, Trump is still in office, so I think there's a lot of unknowns in this moment.”

“A complete rejection of the Trump administration's horrific policies,” is how Ryan's co-host, state Sen. Michele Hinchey told Kingston Wire, in a brief interview. “We're turning the corner, I hope, in getting to a place where we can actually live and start to build the America that we want to see and we want to live in … People are recognizing that we need to lead with a lot more care for our neighbors and human dignity. We're tired of the fear-mongering and hatred and anger. It's exhausting, and we need to give people some hope and something to believe in. And I think that's what we're seeing tonight.”

County Legislature Chair Peter Criswell and Majority Leader Abe Uchitelle, both of Kingston, both joined Metzger in urging caution.

“Many people thought that America had turned a corner after Obama was elected,” Uchitelle texted Kingston Wire. “But what it really meant was a limited time window to improve people’s lives … For me this only means that we have an opportunity to try a new approach to truly solving the problems that have plagued Americans for years … only then we can all turn the corner together.”

“It's a turning point, not the finish line,” Criswell texted Kingston Wire. “Voters sent a clear message … but an election doesn't lower anyone's grocery bill or repair the damage already done. We'll have turned the corner when working families in Ulster County actually feel the difference.”

Regarding Medicaid and SNAP, Criswell said, “We'll be pressing our congressional delegation to protect those programs. But the president still has a veto, so we'll keep budgeting carefully and planning for the cuts already in law.”

Sheriff Juan Figueroa, in a phone interview, was unrestrainedly cheerful – as befits the night's top vote-getter with 56,024. “That means there are folks on the other side of the aisle that voted for me,” he said. “And that's really an important point of what happened generally last night … Do we want democracy? Do we want the rule of law? Do we believe in our Constitution?”

From a law enforcement perspective, Figueroa said, “People living in the shadows is a major, major issue in public safety because it leads to organized crime. I'm hoping the message that was sent last night was that we believe in the rule of law and that's what made us special as a land of immigrants.”

Relatedly, Figueroa shared that he'd been up in the air about his invitation to a National Sheriff's Association December leadership summit in Dallas but, “Guess what? I'm going now!”

For Republicans, 'It Sucks'

Ulster County Legislator Jason Kovacs, narrowly defeated in his re-election effort, told Kingston Wire in a phone interview that he was only “a little bit surprised” at the evening's results. “I knew it was not going to be a great night for Republicans, but certainly it turned out to be an extremely bad night for Republicans … I think that a lot of this is a typical midterm election debacle, and you take that combined with the war in Iran, which was very unpopular.”

A chief consequence, Kovacs predicted, will be “gridlock, which may not necessarily be a bad thing.” On the other hand, he said, “The size of the majority is concerning to me, continually concerned about the one-party government we have here in New York State and Ulster County.”

As for the Ulster GOP's future, he said, “I think everything should be on the agenda. We're close to rock bottom, and we have to have new leadership, and we have to have new energy. … There's certainly a lot of room for the Republican Party in Ulster County, there's a lot of issues that favor us, and I don't think we've done a good job taking advantage of that.”

Legislative Minority Leader Kevin Roberts, battling gloom, sent Kingston Wire a series of terse messages predicting “More govt spending, more UC residents fleeing, higher taxes, green energy schemes … Shall I go on? … My take; it sucks, it cannot get any worse than this.”

“The timing of the Iran War did not help,” Roberts wrote. But he blew off the suggestion that the optics of masked ICE on the streets of American cities was a factor. “Idk,” he wrote. "I’m more concerned about the water at the Kingston Motel than an ICE raid in Chicago,” though he agreed the images motivated Democrats.

Jackie Auringer, outpolled two-to-one in her race against Ryan, was nevertheless upbeat in a phone conversation with Kingston Wire. “I'm honored so many people came out to vote for me, a no-name candidate with no money, no political experience … I was told it was going to be a bad year for Republicans, and to wait two years to run in 2028. But I felt like I can't do that if I'm not willing to do the job myself.”

“I think that the Republican Party needs to listen to people,” she said. “I think that goes for both parties, though. What we're seeing from the Democratic side is everyone very focused on impeachment [of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth] rather than the campaign promises they ran on. I think that that they're missing the mark just the way Republicans didn't listen to people,”

Auringer ruled out a run for Kingston mayor next year, although she said “a lot of people” have urged her to. “Right now,” she said, “We need to rebuild our party organizations locally, so that other candidates have more support and a better foundation to build upon … But I am working with leadership to try to figure out how we can move forward. I will not be taking a leadership role but I will be helping.”

Sarahana: Dems Need to Deliver

Assemblywoman Sarahana Shrestha, like her comrade socialists an insurgent less and less within the Democratic Party, joined those taking the “put up or shut up” line. “Good results in a single election are not enough turn a corner on its own,” she texted Kingston Wire. “But last night's outcome puts us on the path to turn a corner. … We cannot take voter enthusiasm for granted. We have to earn it by delivering results they can feel in their lives.”

What does the election tell us about the prospects for socialism in the United States, we asked.

“That people reject what capitalism has delivered,” Shrestha said. “They care less about labels and more about policies that improve our lives, not the lives of corporate CEOs. Voters of late have sent a clear signal that they welcome being represented by democratic socialists, whether Zohran Mamdani, AOC, me, or the many other DSA candidates that won their election this year, including six new congressmembers who will serve next year.”