DELHI, NY — Delhi resident and former Oneonta City Council Member Michelle Frazier is vying to represent the 51st Senate District against Assembly Member Chris Tague (R,C-102). Frazier, who is running on the Democratic and Working Families line, is campaigning on a platform of healthcare, housing and a fair share for rural communities.

Frazier sat down with the River Reporter to talk about her vision for the district and the status of the race.

She was a professor of criminal justice for 13 years and is currently a real estate salesperson, and previously ran in 2024 against incumbent Sen. Peter Oberacker. Frazier said she was motivated to run by hearing the stories of constituents from across the district. She said residents told her about difficulties affording health care, getting to appointments, finding housing and affording groceries. “It’s those stories that fuel me to run,” Frazier said.

Health care, housing and rural communities

Frazier summarized her main platform with three points, health care, housing and assisting rural communities.

On health care, Frazier said that the district is seeing significant challenges, and that the only way to solve these challenges is to embrace a universal model.

“We really need to have a universal system that addresses the rural concerns with respect to cost and access,” she said. “Access for us is also about transportation, our hospital staying here, our doctors staying here, our nurses staying here.”

Frazier said that housing is also an important topic for her platform. She said that as a real estate salesperson, she has heard from people who struggle to get housing. She said that she would work to increase housing stock for all income levels.

“One of the things that’s been misconstrued is that housing is needed for low income,” Frazier said. “We need housing in rural communities for every income. And we need people who understand that and understand how developing in rural communities is a different situation than development of housing in urban areas.”

Underlining her platform is the idea of rural communities getting a fair shake in Albany. Frazier said that rural communities are dealing with their school systems being “starved for funding,” rural roads not being repaired and concerns about affordability. She would attempt to fix that if elected. 

“The fair share part is making sure that billionaires and corporations are paying their fair share so that rural communities aren’t suffering with lack of resources,” Frazier said.

Building relationships

Frazier said that even though she hasn’t been elected, she has been building relationships with other senators and others in state politics. She said that her endorsements from senator Lea Webb (D,WF-52), Congressmen Josh Riley and Pat Ryan, county legislators, and other local officials show that she’s already making relationships.

“I’m already forging relationships up and down the system,” Frazier said. “The network of people that I have met [with], spoken with, been in touch with is incredible.”

Frazier said she greatly enjoys this aspect of campaigning

“One of the pieces of this that I really, really enjoy is coming together to solve these problems that are really haunting many of our constituents up and down the levels of government,” Frazier said.

A battleground district

Frazier encouraged everyone to come out to vote, highlighting how close the race is. In a letter to the editor published by the River Reporter in August, Frazier wrote that the race was noted as a key battleground district.

“This is actually a battleground seat for the first time in 43 years,” Frazier said. “Every single vote is going to count.”

In closing, Frazier emphasized her commitment to affordability.

“If you want to lower your bills, you have got to get out there and vote for people who are fighting the corporate interest,” she said. “If you want to get out there and sell our land to data centers, vote for the other guy.”