Meet The Candidate: Van De Water For Congressional District 19

MILLBROOK, NY — The races for which voters will cast ballots in the general election in November have been set. One of the heavily contested races is Congressional District 19. Patch asked candidates in the race to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as election day nears.

Republican Kyle Van De Water, 40, is running to represent Congressional District 19. His opponents are incumbent Democrat Rep. Antonio Delgado, Libertarian Victoria Alexander and Green Party candidate Steven Greenfield.

Van De Water is a Millbrook resident. He is a litigation attorney and judge advocate general in the Army reserves. He graduated from University of Massachusetts Amherst with a bachelor degree in political science and economics and has a juris doctorate from Albany Law School.

Van De Water served as a trustee for the village of Millbrook and has a wife and four children.

The 19th Congressional District is comprised of Columbia, Delaware, Greene, Otsego, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster counties and parts of Broome, Dutchess, Montgomery and Rensselaer counties.

Why are you seeking elective office?

I am seeking office because I do not want my children to grow up in a country dictated by the far left.

The single most pressing issue facing our community, and what I intend to do about it.

At this time, it is the virus and the looting. The goal is to defeat the virus, get a vaccine, and get America healthy again. The second is to restore law and order.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

Antonio Delgado is a radical leftist, and a do-nothing Democrat. I will go to Washington and fight for everyone, Democrat and Republican alike to make NY-19 a viable and enticing place to live and work.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the officeholder failed the community?

In two years, the biggest thing Antonio Delgado did was impeach the President.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

I see the steps that must be taken at the national level to assist in the economic recovery of NY-19 as two-fold: small business recovery and supporting local farmers and agriculture industries. We will get the citizens of NY-19 working again with good-paying jobs by supporting local businesses and their workers by giving them federal, forgivable loans through the Paycheck Protection Program. I would like to target areas of high unemployment specifically. As for farming, it appears there has been a successful pivot from selling primarily to purveyors to selling directly to consumers. This has been made possible via CSA programs, delivery services such as Remy Local in the Hudson Valley, and farmer's markets. I'd like to make sure we maintain that. We must also introduce and/or support federal training assistance to help farms diversify products and services. More revenue streams into the farm equate to more sustainable farms.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

Extensive military service as a leader, I'm a family man, I come from a blue collar family, and I am just like everybody else.

The best advice ever shared with me was …

Love your wife and your family first.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I am the People's person because I know what it like to sit down at the breakfast table on Sunday and go over your bills. I may be an attorney, but I came from a blue collar family. I am family man and understand what everyone is going through.

Are you running for office? Contact Michael Woyton for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Patch.