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Congressional Candidates for NY-24 Will Attend, Speak and Meet With Citizens
People concerned about threats to American democracy and looking for actions they can take to fight back will find answers at a town hall meeting Saturday, February 14 at noon in the Lake Ontario Event and Conference Center in the Best Western Plus hotel in Oswego.
The town hall from the pro-democracy volunteer group Indivisible - Oswego County will focus on steps citizens can take to encourage local, state and federal representatives to preserve democracy. Tables at the event will be staffed with guides who can show people how to engage in various activities, from letter-writing campaigns to working on public events to running for elected office.
In addition, candidates for the U. S. House of Representatives in the 24th district of New York, which covers most of Oswego County and a large stretch of land west to near Buffalo, will attend. Democrats Diana Kastenbaum and Alyssa Ellman and independent Ken Estes have agreed to attend. They will speak and, at the end of the event, meet with attendees.
Republican Congresswoman Claudia Tenney has been invited to attend. In the event she does not attend, her life-sized cardboard cutout will be on hand so constituents can videotape short messages to her.
"We hear it time and again: 'I'm so upset by what's going on, but what can I do?'," said Paul McKinney, Indivisible - Oswego County facilitator. "In the last year, we've learned there's a lot we can do, whether it's making phone calls, going to local government meetings or running for office. It all begins with showing up. Showing up for this town hall will help people learn how to show up for democracy."
A highlight of the event will be a push to get out the vote in November and to recruit candidates to run for public office. Many races in Oswego County and across the country are not contested, giving voters no choice of representatives and no incentive to vote.
In 2025, a late effort to encourage candidates for Oswego County Legislature tripled the number of Democrats on the body, while Democrats surprisingly won control of the Onondaga County Legislature for the first time in decades.
Indivisible - Oswego County can be found at indivisibleoc.com and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61581808925309.
