Carrie Woerner has spent more than a decade representing Round Lake and the surrounding Saratoga, Washington and Warren County communities in the New York State Assembly. She built her reputation as one of the chamber’s most prolific dealmakers after a 30-year career in software before entering politics.
Now in her sixth term, Woerner chairs the powerful Racing and Wagering Committee and is pushing New York’s first major problem-gambling protections since the state’s sports-betting boom. A first-time Republican challenger is meanwhile trying to turn a labor-department dispute into a campaign issue against her.
So, who is Carrie Woerner, what has she built in Albany, and what’s shaping her bid for a seventh term?
Quick Facts
- Party
- Democratic
- Hometown
- Village of Round Lake, N.Y.
- Born
- April 7, 1962
- Current Position
- New York State Assembly, 113th District; Chair, Racing and Wagering Committee
- Background
- Software executive (MeetMax Conference Software); Round Lake Village Trustee; historic preservation advocate
- In Office Since
- January 2015
- Up For Reelection
- November 2026, facing Republican Allen Caruso
EARLY CAREER
Carrie Caird Woerner was born April 7, 1962.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from Carnegie-Mellon University and an MBA in marketing and finance from Santa Clara University.
The Round Lake Village Inn, a historic landmark in Woerner’s hometown of Round Lake.
Before entering politics, Woerner spent roughly 30 years in the software industry, including stints at Dell/Perot Systems and IBM. She went on to found and lead MeetMax Conference Software, a division of the Wall Street Transcript she established in Saratoga Springs in 2008.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Woerner’s path into politics ran through historic preservation rather than party organizing.
From 2002 to 2008, she served as executive director of the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation. In that role she expanded membership, published a walking-tour guidebook, raised money to restore the First Baptist Church, and secured a $130,000 state grant for the Beekman Street Arts District.
She also founded the Historic Saratoga Race Track Preservation Coalition and successfully advocated for preservation protections written into 2008 legislation covering horse racing in New York.
Woerner was elected a Round Lake Village Trustee in 2008 and reelected in 2010 and 2012. She also served on the Town of Malta Planning Board from 2008 to 2014.
FIRST ASSEMBLY RUN AND PATH TO OFFICE
Woerner’s first bid for the Assembly, in 2012, came up short. She lost to incumbent Republican Tony Jordan by a 53%-47% margin.
Two years later, with Jordan retiring to run successfully for Washington County District Attorney, Woerner ran again. She defeated Republican Steve Stallmer by 52% to 48%, taking her seat in 2015.
She won a competitive fourth-term race in 2020 against David Catalfamo, a former senior aide to Gov. George Pataki. The contest drew nearly $1 million in outside spending, including a $160,000 ad campaign attacking her record.
The New York State Capitol in Albany, where Woerner has served since 2015.
A PROLIFIC LEGISLATIVE RECORD
Woerner has built a reputation in Albany for bipartisan productivity.
Since her first term in 2015, she has passed 85 bills through the Assembly, 65 of which have been signed into law.
Her office describes her as one of the most productive legislators in the New York State Assembly.
She has chaired the Assembly’s Libraries and Education Technology Committee and the Small Business Committee, and currently chairs the Racing and Wagering Committee. She also serves on the Agriculture, Local Governments, and Tourism, Parks, Arts and Sports Development committees, and chairs the Legislative Women’s Caucus.
Her legislative focus has centered on small businesses and farms, public schools, and preserving the traditions and open space of Saratoga and Washington counties.
WOERNER'S ASSEMBLY BILL RECORD SINCE 2015
Woerner’s office reports 85 bills passed by the full Assembly since she took office in 2015, 65 of which were signed into law. Source: New York State Assembly, Carrie Woerner official biography.
LEADING THE FIGHT AGAINST PROBLEM GAMBLING
As chair of the Racing and Wagering Committee, Woerner has emerged as Albany’s lead voice on regulating New York’s rapidly expanding mobile sports-betting industry. The industry has generated more than $1 billion in gaming tax revenue in a single year since legalization in 2022.
Following a committee oversight hearing on mobile wagering held in October 2025, Woerner introduced legislation to create a problem-gambling research institute within the SUNY system.
“Individuals are exposed to constant prompts to bet, effectively carrying a casino in their pocket,” Woerner wrote in the bill’s justification.
In March 2026, she helped pass a package of six bills through the Assembly. The bills tightened account sign-in protocols to curb underage access, adopted evidence-based criteria to flag at-risk gambling behavior, and modernized the state’s voluntary self-exclusion process.
The Assembly also passed a resolution designating March as Problem Gambling Awareness Month.
“This weighty package establishes a framework of critical guardrails for mobile sports gaming and ensures the health and safety of participants are prioritized,” Woerner said.
She has separately sponsored competing bills to legalize online casino gaming, known as iGaming, in New York. One version places heavier emphasis on consumer protections than a companion measure carried by State Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr.
OTHER 2026 PRIORITIES
Beyond gambling policy, Woerner touted the 2026-27 state budget for delivering investments that protect agricultural land and laborers, strengthen food systems, preserve the environment, and combat inflation.
She joined a group of Upstate Assembly Democrats in February 2026 proposing solutions to what they called an escalating energy-affordability crisis for New Yorkers.
In April, she hosted her annual Women of Distinction Awards, recognizing 15 honorees from the 113th District.
2026 CHALLENGE AND CONTROVERSY
Woerner is sworn into the Assembly by Judge Christine Clark, January 2015. (NYS Assembly)
Seeking a seventh term in 2026, Woerner faces Allen Caruso, a 37-year-old Saratoga Springs smoothie-bar owner making his first run for office.
Caruso has centered part of his campaign on a personal dispute with Woerner’s office. His restaurant, Thorn + Roots, was cited by the state Department of Labor for non-compliance with labor laws covering employment certificates, minors’ work hours during the school year, meal periods, and pay-rate notifications.
Caruso says he sought help from Woerner’s office in 2022 while dealing with the Labor Department. He recalls being told, “This is New York State and the labor department is going to come in and put your name in the paper and make an example of you and your business, and that’s just part of doing business in New York State.”
He has called the race “personal,” citing that exchange as a motivating factor in his campaign.
OTHER LEGISLATIVE WORK
Beyond gambling and agriculture, Woerner has built a long record of smaller, targeted bills. In 2024, she and Sen. Shelley Mayer sponsored a law requiring every school board and BOCES in New York to appoint a non voting student member, and she authored legislation allowing veterans organizations like VFWs and American Legion posts to keep using electronic Bell Jar gambling machines.
She has also sponsored a bill to transition the New York Racing Association from public back to private control, pushed a package of bills targeting vacant “zombie” properties that drag down neighboring home values, and worked to close the LLC loophole that let limited liability companies skirt the state’s political donation limits.
In February 2026, she joined a group of Upstate Assembly Democrats proposing solutions to what they called an escalating energy affordability crisis for New York ratepayers, an issue that cuts across party lines in her heating oil dependent district.
LOOKING AHEAD
Woerner enters the 2026 general election as a six-term incumbent with one of the Assembly’s most bipartisan bill-passage records. She’s defending her seat against a first-time challenger in a district that has trended competitive before.
PagPol will continue tracking the 113th Assembly District race through Election Day. For updates on Woerner’s committee work and her race against Caruso, sign up for PagPol’s Saratoga County newsletter.
