Early voting gets underway this weekend for New York’s primary elections. In Rensselaer County, current Sheriff Pat Russo is not seeking re-election. Two candidates are making their final appeal to voters ahead of the GOP primary.

Rensselaer County Sheriff Sergeant Kyle Bourgault is endorsed by Russo.

“I’ve been there 16 years. I have a working knowledge of the sheriff’s office between the correctional facility, between the civil office and the highway patrol,” said Bourgault.

Jason Stocklas is an engineer with the state DEC and volunteer firefighter. Before that, he spent 18 years in law enforcement. Stocklas got his start at the Troy Police Department and eventually became a federal agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

“I’ve had the opportunity to see how things work all over the country, and some things that don’t work. I’ve had the opportunity to work investigations from burglaries to arsons to bombings to homicides,” said Stocklas.

Bourgault’s top priority if elected is addressing an understaffed county jail.

“My main goal, day one, is going to be recruitment and retention. We’re going to have to go out and make the sheriff’s office more public than it already is, we’re going to have to focus on job fairs, career days,” said Bourgault.

A key campaign point for Stocklas is ensuring staff well-being, which he says will keep more people on the job.

“I want for the staff to feel appreciated, to feel that if they have a bad day there’s somebody they can talk to,” said Stocklas.

Both candidates are staunch defenders of Second Amendment rights. Stocklas says he’ll push back on what he calls executive overreach after changes were made to state gun laws last year. But he’d also like to implement more outreach training and education for county gun owners.

“They can make sure they’re doing it responsibly and effectively,” said Stocklas.

In Bourgault’s time working at the sheriff’s office, he tells Spectrum News he’s processed nearly 6,000 pistol permits.

“I’ve streamlined the process for county residents to be able to get them quickly,” said Bourgault.

Bail reform is another top issue for Bourgault. If elected, he plans to work with the NYS Sheriff’s Association to fight against it.

“When you’re arresting the same guy for the same crime, three or four weeks in a row, that’s taking you away from other cases you could be focusing on,” said Bourgault.

Reducing recidivism is one of Stocklas’ key campaign promises as well. If elected, he plans to partner with other agencies to teach incarcerated people new skills.

“Even something as simple as providing assistance in resume writing, or basic computer skills,” said Stocklas.

Republican voters will soon cast their ballots in this primary race. Whoever wins will face former Troy Police Chief Brian Owens, who’s enrolled conservative but is endorsed by county Democrats.

“I think that I’ve been given just a lot of opportunities to lead people, to work through difficult situations, and to get people to work together. So, I think I would be very useful for the position of sheriff,” said Owens.

There are two other issues of note that the Republican candidates in this race are focused on.

Bourgault is campaigning on the promise to continue the county’s existing agreement with ICE to enforce federal immigration laws via the jail enforcement model. Stocklas is campaigning on the promise to bolster the county’s emergency response by supplementing current EMS services with a paramedic “fly” car in which trained deputies can assist over-burdened EMS providers.

Primary day is June 27, but early voting gets underway on June 17.