Federal Transit Administration head, ex-U.S. Representative and gubernatorial nominee Marc Molinaro expected to run for the New York State Assembly
Molinaro previously held an Assembly seat for two terms.
Last year, Marc Molinaro was appointed as the Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration by Donald Trump. Molinaro recently announced that he is already exiting the post, but he is apparently making a bid at a different office.
Various outlets are reporting that Molinaro will be launching a campaign for the New York State Assembly via the 102nd District. Previously, he held a seat in the Assembly from the 103rd District from 2007 until 2011.
Molinaro began his political career as a teenager, winning a spot on the Board of Trustees for Tivoli, New York near the Massachusetts and Connecticut borders. Shortly afterward, he became the Mayor of the village, making him the youngest holder of such an office in the country at the time. From 2001 to 2006, he was also a member of the Legislature of Dutchess County, New York.
In 2011, Molinaro was elected as the Executive of Dutchess County. Seven years later, he ran for Governor of New York. Molinaro easily secured the Republican nomination, as well as those from the Conservative Party and Reform Party, but later lost the general election in a landslide result. Despite this, he was re-elected for a second time as County Executive in 2019.
Molinaro ran for the United States House of Representatives from the 19th District of New York twice in 2022. The first was in a special election held after Antonio Delgado was appointed as the state’s Lieutenant Governor. He lost that race to Democratic Ulster County Executive and highly decorated Iraq War veteran Pat Ryan.
In the regularly scheduled election held later in the year, different Congressional District boundaries would be in play and thus Molinaro would not be facing Ryan again. Instead, he ended up defeating Democrat Josh Riley, a former staffer for U.S. Representative Maurice Hinchey and Minnesota U.S. Senator Al Franken. But in a 2024 re-match, Riley emerged as the victor.
Marcus James Molinaro is a native of the New York City suburb of Yonkers, New York. He graduated from high school in Red Hook, New York, followed by Dutchess Community College.