KNOX — Democrat Russ Pokorny has proved himself to voters, earning another two years as supervisor after a first term in which he was the only Democrat on an otherwise Republican-backed board.

He defended his seat from Jamie Berenger, a Berne-Knox-Westerlo bus driver who was running for local office for the first time and kept a low campaign profile, declining to respond to Enterprise requests for an interview prior to the election. 

Pokorny got 429 votes to Berenger’s 238 — a roughly 64-to-36 split — with seven people writing in, according to the Albany County Board of Elections’ unofficial Election Night results.

Although Pokorny suggested Tuesday night that he felt confident during the campaign, he acknowledged that he was relieved that he could stop worrying about being re-elected and get back to work. 

“Your opponent becomes known to you about three-quarters of the way through your term, you spend [five months] thinking about it, and it’s a distraction all of that time,” he said. 

Knox is the only Hilltown that still has a two-year term for supervisors; regular board members, meanwhile, serve four-year terms.

Pokorny said it’s “a lot to go through” every two years, but that, without any solid plans to run again in 2025, he appreciates the relative freedom that a two-year term offers over a four-year one. Early discussions shortly after his election about switching to a four-year term left him “unexcited,” he said. 

“I’ve enjoyed the job,” Pokorny said. “It’s been really interesting, and I might want to [run again], in which case, I will, at that point, wish that we had switched it to a four year term.” 

While the supervisor’s race was up in the air, all other seats in Knox that were open this year went uncontested, to be held by their Republican-backed incumbents. 

Board members June Springer and Dennis Cyr were re-elected with 435 and 455 votes respectively, with 15 people writing in. 

Town Clerk Traci Schanz was re-elected 492 votes, with seven people writing in; highway superintendent Matthew Schanz was re-elected with 476 votes, with 13 people writing in; tax collector Elizabeth Walk was re-elected with 504 votes, with four people writing in; and town justice Bonnie Donati was re-elected with 477 votes, with five people writing in.

Of 2,033 voters in Knox, according to this year’s enrollment figures, 710 are Democrats, 544 are Republican, 88 are Conservative (with a negligible number enrolled in the additional third parties), and 283 are not enrolled in any party.