BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2014 With Election Day approaching, voters in New York\u2019s 142nd Assembly District face a choice between incumbent Pat Burke and challenger Gary Dickson.<\/p>\n
Affordability is a central issue in this race. Burke said rising utility bills are putting pressure on families, while Dickson argued state policies are driving up costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cUtility prices are the biggest thing facing my constituents,” said Burke. “Prioritizing local control over the utility grid and finding ways for people to save money is my priority.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dickson said he would take a different approach in Albany, pointing to energy policy and public safety as key concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese green initiatives are completely impractical,” said Dickson. “Public safety issues that are making us less safe, such as bail reform and Raise the Age.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burke pointed to his record in the Assembly, including legislation addressing police mental health after critical incidents, as evidence of what he can accomplish.<\/p>\n
\u201cI passed my bill, which I think is considered the most groundbreaking police mental health bill in the country,” said Burke. “It was passed this year, and eventually signed into law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dickson said his local government experience demonstrates his approach to managing taxpayer money.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had the promise to treat every taxpayer’s dollar as if it was my own,” said Dickson. “So for five years in a row, we did not increase the town budgets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both candidates said they want to address residents\u2019 concerns, but offer different approaches on affordability and state policy. <\/p>\n
Election Day is Nov. 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2014 With Election Day approaching, voters in New York\u2019s 142nd Assembly District face a choice between…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[113,38490,117343,9,11,10,49,51,50,12,112,87,200],"class_list":["post-379342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-buffalo","tag-decision-2026","tag-hunter-caparelli","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-news","tag-ny-state-of-politics","tag-politics","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}