POUGHKEEPSIE — Republican Dutchess County Executive Mark Molinaro has filed paperwork to run for Congress, challenging incumbent Democrat Antonio Delgado of Rhinebeck for his seat in the 19th Congressional District.
Molinaro on Friday signed a Statement of Candidacy and filed it with the Federal Election Commission.
The three-term county executive has not formally announced his candidacy as of Monday morning.
According to Federal Election Commission paperwork, Molinaro will be seeking to represent New York’s 19th Congressional District which encompasses Columbia, Delaware, Greene, Otsego, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster counties and parts of Broome, Dutchess, Montgomery and Rensselaer counties.
Delgado took office in January 2019. His term is set to expire in January 2023.
Molinaro was elected Dutchess County’s seventh county executive in 2011. He was elected to serve a third term in 2019. In 2018, Molinaro ran unsuccessfully for governor against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
According to the Dutchess County website, Molinaro was first elected to public office at 18, when he served on the Village of Tivoli Board of Trustees.
In 1995, he was elected mayor of Tivoli and at age 19 became the youngest mayor in the United States. He was reelected mayor five times and elected four times to the Dutchess County Legislature.
In 2006, he was elected to represent the 103rd District in the state Assembly. As county executive, Molinaro serves as second vice president of the New York State Association of Counties.