To the Editor:

I am writing in support of Pat Strong, an outsider candidate for New York State Senate for the 46th District. This is a huge gerrymandered district that starts in Kingston and swings through the Hilltowns, Altamont, and Guilderland before looping back to Amsterdam.

I have had the opportunity to meet Pat on several occasions and have been very impressed with her grasp of the issues that we upstaters face, but what I really like about her is that she is the kind of person that you can just approach and talk to. She is not one of those slick politicians.

As I write, another historic storm, “Michael,” is battering Florida. It’s time to listen to the meteorologists who recognize that these violent storms are related to warming oceans.

Pat Strong is a business owner who consults with communities to install green, energy-efficient power systems. We need to vote for politicians at every opportunity that will promote green energy to help us turn the tide on climate disruption. Pat will fight to protect the environment, and to promote green-energy jobs and job training.

As a small-business owner myself, I appreciate that she knows the issues that small businesses face; she knows that small businesses drive the upstate economy. But small businesses and entrepreneurs face heavy health-care costs.

Pat will stand up to get health care for all in New York passed. Why should insurance companies profit from people getting sick?

Pat was inspired to run when her opponent, George Amedore, against all common sense, voted to let domestic abusers keep their firearms. Currently, 94 percent of the victims of murder/suicides by an intimate partner are women.

We need Pat’s voice to protect women’s safety and also women’s reproductive rights, which are not guaranteed at this time by New York State.

Voters want to hear Pat Strong debate George Amedore, but he has so far been unwilling to put himself out there. This does not reflect well on him.

Get out and vote as if your democracy depended on it! Vote Pat Strong!

Carly Wright

Knox