Mumbai-born Democrat Minita Sanghvi is running for New York State Senate

New York: Mumbai-born Minita Sanghvi, who is currently serving her second term as Saratoga Springs Finance Commissioner, has launched a campaign for the New York State Senate.

The 46-year-old Democrat told WAMC Northeast Public Radio on Monday that she would challenge the longtime Republican for the 44th Senate district seat in November.

A marketing professor at Skidmore College, Sanghvi is running in the 44th District, a seat held by Republican Jim Tedisco, who has been in the upper chamber since 2017.

She said Tedisco is out of touch with the needs of regular citizens, and that the 73-year-old is ignoring basic issues to instead further fuel the political divide.

“I want to put the community first and not play politics,” she said.

“I have worked with the county and the state when issues come up and solutions need to happen. I’m solution-driven and a problem-solver. Mr. Tedisco is not.” “We have infrastructure money coming down the pipe and we have to make sure it is coming to our district,” Sanghvi said.

“The district is also growing. We need an innovation corridor, something that connects Saratoga Springs and Schenectady and allows for our academic facilities as well as maker spaces, venture capitalists and incubators to talk to each other. We need new ideas for our district and we don’t have them.” She also said as a mother, gun safety is one of her priorities, adding that people who own guns are concerned about that, too.

“It’s not a Second Amendment issue,” she said. “But as a mother, it is a critical issue.” Sanghvi has yet to get endorsements from the local and county Democratic committees, but she said she has spoken to many of them.

Since Sanghvi’s announcement, Republican chairs have reacted, saying she should resign as commissioner as she was just sworn in and is now running for another office.

Sanghvi on Monday said she is not allowing the Republican chairs to decide when and what she does.

Sanghvi also taught at the University of North Carolina before moving to Saratoga Springs in 2014.