Voters on Tuesday will decide a number of crucial local elections in counties and communities across New York. The off-year election comes between the state’s surprising consequential role in the 2022 elections and the 2024 federal contests that will likely bring the state more attention than years past.

Here are the races to watch.

Several county executives look to defend their seats

County leaders in some of the state’s highly populated areas who are on the ballot this year are both seasoned veterans and seeking their first re-election.

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz is looking to secure what he says will be his final term — deciding to run again this year following the region’s traumatic year and a half of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Buffalo mass shooting, a historic deadly snowstorm and the county’s recent role in the state’s ongoing migrant crisis.

In recent months, Poloncarz has dealt with a domestic incident between him and a former girlfriend in which police responded and filed a report, but no charges were pressed.

He faces Republican Chrissy Casilio, a communications specialist and business owner.

Poloncarz, a Democrat, first took office in 2012, and if victorious, would become the first Erie County executive to ever win four terms.

Not so long entrenched in the office is Republican Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon, who is seeking his second full term. Onondaga County has a unique long-term pattern of voting regularly for Democratic candidates in presidential, gubernatorial and other statewide races while voting for Republican county executives and keeping Republicans in control of the county legislature.

McMahon took over as county executive in 2018, won a full term in 2019 and presided over the pandemic, the announcement of Micron’s massive semiconductor plant coming to the region and has a sizable campaign war chest. He is challenged by Democratic county legislator Bill Kinne, who criticizes McMahon’s tactics and accuses him of focusing too much energy on large-scale, wish-list items rather than day-to-day issues.  

Also seeking his second term is Monroe County Executive Adam Bello. His Republican opponent, Mark Assini, is a former town supervisor who has held many roles in public service. Public safety, the opioid crisis and the economy are prominent issues in that race.

Bello unseated Republican incumbent Cheryl Dinolfo in 2019, becoming the first Democratic county executive there in 30 years, and is looking to keep that post.

Speaking of keeping seats in Democratic hands, a political battle is ensuing in Suffolk County. The race to succeed outgoing County Executive Steve Bellone, who has held that office for the last 12 years, comes at a pivotal time for the Long Island region.

After voting for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo by 5 points in 2018 and an even split for Donald Trump and Joe Biden in 2020, Suffolk County backed Republican Lee Zeldin by 17 points in last year’s race for governor. More than that, in 2021, Democrats lost the Suffolk County district attorney race, the Suffolk County Legislature flipped to Republican control and nearby Nassau County elected a Republican county executive as well. Consequently, the Suffolk County executive’s office is one of the last major powerful positions in Democrats’ hands on Long Island. Since Long Island helped Republicans win control of the House of Representatives in 2022, the race for Bellone’s seat could be telling going into next year.

Numerous open seats for mayors

Three candidates are hoping to succeed Robert Palmieri as mayor of Utica, who can’t run again due to term limits. Republican Michael Galime, Conservative Party candidate Bob Cardillo and Democrat and Working Families candidate Celeste Friend are vying for that position.

Also an open contest is the race for mayor of Troy. Whoever succeeds Democrat Patrick Madden will make history. Either Democrat Nina Nichols or Republican Carmella Mantello would be the city’s first female mayor.

The city of Oswego is looking to replace Billy Barlow, who is term-limited after being New York’s youngest elected mayor in 2015 at the age of 25. Republican Robert Corradino is running unopposed in that race. The city of Poughkeepsie is also an open mayoral contest between Democrat Yvonne Flowers, who defeated the interim mayor in a June primary, and Republican Anthony LaRocca.

In Geneva, things are a little stranger. Incumbent Democratic Mayor Steve Valentino is running on the Republican line after the local Democratic committee supported Jan Regan during the primary election. A similar situation is taking place in the city of Rome, where incumbent Republican Mayor Jacqueline Izzo was endorsed by the Rome City Democratic Committee after losing the Republican primary to Jeffrey Lanigan. Izzo is running on the Conservative Party line.

Democratic incumbents in Saratoga Springs, Schenectady, Newburgh and Kingston are looking to keep their jobs.

Statewide constitutional amendments

While there are no statewide office elections in 2023, there are two constitutional amendment proposals on the ballot.

One would allow small city school districts to carry more debt. There are 57 small city school districts that may not borrow beyond 5% of their total property wealth. The amendment, if passed, would allow them to operate at 10%, which is the same limit on indebtedness as all their rural and suburban counterparts.

The other amendment would “extends for 10 years the authority of counties, cities, towns and villages to remove from their constitutional debt limits debt for the construction of sewage facilities."

Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. across New York on Tuesday.

Full election night coverage with results begins at 8 p.m. on Spectrum News 1.