Eachus takes the oath of office

Posted 1/4/23

Christopher W. Eachus of New Windsor, joined by his family, friends, fellow elected officials and supporters was sworn in as the newest member of the New York State Assembly on Sunday, January 1. …

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Eachus takes the oath of office

Posted

Christopher W. Eachus of New Windsor, joined by his family, friends, fellow elected officials and supporters was sworn in as the newest member of the New York State Assembly on Sunday, January 1. Eachus will be representing the 99th District which includes Orange and Rockland Counties.

Eachus defeated first-time assembly candidate Kathryn Luciani of Woodbury by a margin of eight votes in a hotly contested race in which the results were not determined until weeks later. Eachus succeeds Assemblyman Colin Schmitt of New Windsor who pursued the 18th Congressional District seat last November. Schmitt was defeated in the race for the open seat by previous Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan.

Eachus had previously served as Orange County Legislator, worked as an educator in the local area for four decades and has lived in New Windsor for the past 30 years. He also served and was a member of the New Windsor and Orange County democratic committees for a number of years.

“Chris is a longtime guy involved in politics,” said New Windsor Supervisor George Meyers. “He’s been a county legislator but he’s also been very supportive of what we do here in New Windsor and I appreciate that. And I’m happy to be here with you today, because I consider you a friend,” said Meyers. “We are the same type of people that if you’re going to do a good job for the residents, then we’re with you. We [New Windsor] look forward to working with him.”

Joining Town Justice George Meyers IV at the podium in the Town Hall Courtroom, Eachus proceeded to take the oath of office and following the official swearing, applause and cheers rang out from the courtroom. Also in attendance were Assemblyman Jonathan Jacobson, Orange County Legislator Kevindaryán Luján, New Windsor Councilman Stephen Bedetti and Councilwoman Sylvia Santiago, Town Clerk Kelly Allegra and members of the New Windsor Democratic Committee.

“I want you to realize how proud I am to know you, to be affiliated with you, to know that you spoke to somebody, that you dropped a pamphlet at somebody’s door, that you mentioned my name on the way in or out and that made the difference, that truly made the difference,” said Eachus. “I know so many of the elected officials in this area. I’m lucky and I’m going to work very, very closely with them to get what we need. That’s the reason I ran. That is truly the reason I ran was to be sure that we bring back into this district, the things which are due this district.”

“I couldn’t be more proud of Chris, of his family, of this community. We’re so excited for him, we know that he’s going to do an amazing job in the assembly,” said Luján. “We know that with him, we’re going to have a partner that we can continue to work the local, municipal level, to the county level, to the state level. We are very confident in his ability to lead us and fight for us and fight for all of us in New York State.”

“It was a long fought race. There’s work to be done and Chris is going to get it done,” said wife Kimberly Sanders-Eachus. “He is very logical. He is very patient and he is very understanding and he’s a great listener. I know this from 30 years of being married to him. He will listen to any and everybody regardless of where you live, regardless of your party affiliation and he is a very, very fair man. So the entire state is going to benefit from his election.”

For now, Eachus is awaiting approval from the assembly for his anticipated office location which he plans to set up in Central Valley. Eachus said the location will serve as a central point in the district and he encourages his constituents to reach out to him via email and social media in the coming weeks.