In the race for Saratoga Springs mayor, incumbent Ron Kim faces a challenge in the Democratic primary from former Public Safety Commissioner Chris Mathiesen.

Kim says his administration has made a lot of progress in his first year and a half as mayor, including building the long-awaited East Side fire station, implementing the Complete Streets Plan to make the city more walkable and bikeable and opening a new homeless shelter.

“For the last six years, essentially, we’ve had homeless people, up to 30 or 40 people, in our parking garage at Woodlawn. That wasn’t safe,” said Kim.

Mathiesen did not return Spectrum News 1’s requests for an interview, but speaking in a virtual candidate forum with the Saratoga County League of Women Voters, he said he decided to enter the race because he disagrees with Kim’s handling of a number of issues.

Mathiesen has spoken out about Kim and current Public Safety Commissioner James Montagnino’s releasing of body camera footage from a November 20 shooting last year involving Saratoga Springs police, an off-duty Vermont sheriff’s deputy and others.

“The duly elected district attorney went to the mayor’s office and told the mayor not to release those videos and not to comment publicly on a lot of the things they did comment on. I know the mayor thinks that’s an example of transparency. I think that’s an example of irresponsibility,” said Mathiesen during the forum.

Kim stood by his decision, saying, “In the end, what we prevented was a lot of scurrilous rumors.”

Mathiesen has also criticized the mayor for what he calls a loss of control of city council meetings. Twice this year, Black Lives Matter activists have faced charges stemming from alleged disruptions of those meetings.

“People are being shouted over; that’s not OK. I think that you have to restore order, make sure the vile language being used is not being used anymore,” Mathiesen said during the virtual candidate forum. 

Kim said in both instances, the city council was able to reconvene within 72 hours to carry out the rest of the meeting agenda.

“We may not like their language, we may not like the how they deliver their message, but in the end, the First Amendment doesn’t say, ‘Well, you get free speech if you say it this way,’ ” said Kim.

In 2021, the state Attorney General’s Office opened an investigation into alleged mistreatment of BLM protestors by Saratoga Springs police. Those protests centered around calls for a formal investigation into the death of Darryl Mount, a biracial man who died in 2014, nine months after falling from scaffolding during a police chase.

Mathiesen was public safety commissioner at the time of Mount’s death.

“I know that my opponent will tell you they did do an investigation. He had a press conference. There was no independent investigation. If that had happened at that time, we wouldn’t be re-hashing that terrible incident,” said Kim.

Mathiesen said on his campaign website that, if elected, he’d like to establish better communication with residents by creating public forums, as well as expanding the city’s recreation department.

Kim said he’s focused on creating more affordable housing and further tackling homelessness throughout the city.

Both candidates have made a commitment to protecting Saratoga’s greenbelt and working to address climate change.

Regardless of the Democratic endorsement, both candidates will appear on the ballot come November. Kim will be on the Working Families line and Mathiesen has secured the "One Saratoga" line.