Pat Fahy spent 12 years representing the City of Albany in the Assembly before winning an open State Senate seat in 2024. That move put four Schenectady County towns, Rotterdam, Glenville, Duanesburg, and Princetown, into her district for the first time. Those towns did not vote for her. She lost the Schenectady County portion of the district by roughly 11 points while winning the seat overall by more than 16,000 votes.
So who is Pat Fahy, what has she actually passed, and why do her opponents keep returning to bail reform and energy costs? The record runs through a Chicago workforce office, a climate bill that never cleared the Assembly, a Mohawk River plan that passed the Senate 60 to 1, and a 2026 race against Republican Martha McHugh.
Quick Facts
- Party
- Democratic (also on the Working Families line)
- Hometown
- Albany, N.Y.
- Date of Birth
- Not listed in official biographies reviewed
- Current Position
- New York State Senate, 46th District; Chair, Senate Disabilities Committee
- Background
- Former associate commissioner, NYS Labor Department; former Albany school board president
- In Office Since
- 2025 (Senate); Assembly, 2013 to 2024
EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY
Fahy describes herself as the child of immigrants. “I’m the daughter of immigrants,” she said in 2024, according to the Altamont Enterprise. Moraine Valley Community College, which inducted her into its alumni hall of fame, calls her the first in her family to graduate from college. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Northern Illinois University and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
She lives in the City of Albany with her husband, Wayne Bequette, a professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, according to her Senate biography. The couple has two children, Brendan and Eileen. Brendan died of cancer in February 2022 at age 25, according to the Enterprise. PagPol could not find her date of birth or birthplace in official biographies, so neither is listed here.
Albany City Hall. Fahy represented the City of Albany in the Assembly for 12 years and still lives in the city. (Photo: Tyler A. McNeil, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
A LABOR DEPARTMENT CAREER BEFORE OFFICE
Before running for anything, Fahy built a career in workforce policy. She was executive director of the Chicago Workforce Board, then spent nine years in Washington, including a post at the U.S. Labor Department during the Clinton administration and work as a legislative analyst in the House and Senate, according to her Senate biography. She later served as an associate commissioner at the New York State Labor Department.
Her first local office was on the Albany school board, which she served as president, according to the Enterprise. In 2012, when longtime Assemblyman John McEneny retired, she won a six candidate Democratic primary for the open 109th District seat with 37 percent. PagPol could not locate the vote totals for that primary or for her first general election against Republican Ted Danz Jr.
ELECTION RESULTS
Her Assembly races were rarely close. She took 66 percent against Jesse Calhoun in 2014, according to unofficial results reported by the Enterprise. State results compiled in PagPol’s Data Spine show her beating Robert Porter 39,563 to 13,106 in 2018 and 48,395 to 20,282 in 2020, then beating Alicia Purdy 27,753 to 9,545 in 2022. PagPol could not find official totals for 2012 and 2016.
In 2024 she ran for the Senate seat Neil Breslin was leaving and faced Danz again. Unofficial results reported by the Enterprise gave her 69,087 votes across two lines to his 52,329, 54 percent to 41 percent. She won Albany County by about 68 to 29 percent but lost Montgomery County by about 62 to 32 and the Schenectady County towns by about 53 to 42.
2024 State Senate District 46 result, by county
Fahy (D)Ted Danz (R)
Approximate vote shares from unofficial 2024 results reported by the Altamont Enterprise. Fahy won the district on the strength of Albany County while losing its Schenectady County towns and Montgomery County.
THE DISTRICT AND THE PARTY MATH
The 46th District covers most of Albany County, all of Montgomery County, and part of Schenectady County, according to her Senate biography. The Schenectady County Board of Elections district map places Duanesburg, Glenville, Princetown, and Rotterdam in the 46th, while the City of Schenectady and Niskayuna sit in the neighboring 44th District.
The 46th Senate District as drawn in 2023, shown in purple. (Map: Stanloona2020, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Enrollment favors Democrats overall. The district had about 95,000 enrolled Democrats, 46,000 Republicans, and 56,000 voters in no party in 2024, according to the Enterprise. In Albany, Democrats hold 41 of the Senate’s 63 seats, one short of a two thirds supermajority after losing a seat in 2024, according to Spectrum News. Fahy serves inside that majority.
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS
Fahy chairs the Senate Disabilities Committee, a post she took in February 2025 after Sen. John Mannion left for Congress, according to a Senate release. She also sits on Agriculture; Cities 2; Environmental Conservation; Higher Education; Local Government; and Racing, Gaming and Wagering, plus the Joint Senate Task Force on Opioids, Addiction and Overdose Prevention, according to her Senate biography.
As chair, she named two early priorities: a 7.8 percent raise for direct support professionals who care for people with developmental disabilities and a $5,000 tax credit for employers of workers with disabilities. In the Assembly she chaired the Higher Education Committee. PagPol found no leadership post in the Senate Democratic conference beyond her committee chairmanship.
The Mohawk River seen from Erie Canal Lock 9 in Rotterdam. Fahy's S.7970-A would create a basin district to manage flooding and pollution along the river. (Photo: Tyler A. McNeil, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
WHAT SHE HAS ACTUALLY PASSED
Her most significant Schenectady County bill is the Mohawk River Basin management act, S.7970-A and A.8617-A. It creates a basin district and program for flood resilience, pollution monitoring, and invasive species. It passed the Assembly unanimously and the Senate 60 to 1 on June 3, 2026, with Republican Sen. Mark Walczyk the lone no, according to Senate records. It has not yet been signed.
The bill drew bipartisan support. Republican Sen. Jake Ashby co-sponsored it, and Assemblyman John McDonald carried it in the Assembly. Riverkeeper’s Tracy Brown, Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy, and Amsterdam Mayor Michael Cinquanti backed it, according to Fahy’s June 2026 release. “The Mohawk River is one of the 46th District’s greatest natural assets,” she said in that release.
Her other recent bills are smaller or stalled. S.10384, a highway dedication, passed 61 to 0 and was signed as Chapter 204 of 2026, according to Senate records. S.4849, a state study of Albany’s Harriman campus parking district, passed the Senate but sits in an Assembly committee. S.10664, a “Purple Alert” for missing people with disabilities, has sat in the Senate Rules Committee since July 2026.
THE ASSEMBLY RECORD
In the Assembly she sponsored A.7006, the Digital Fair Repair Act, which became law through its Senate version, S.4104. That bill passed the Senate 49 to 14 in 2021 and 59 to 4 in 2022, according to Senate records, and was signed in a narrower form covering phones, computers, and tablets. She also carried A.7043-A, creating a school zone speed camera program in Albany, which the governor signed in 2023.
Her biggest bill never made it. She was the Assembly sponsor of A.4592, the NY HEAT Act, formally the Gas Transition and Affordable Energy Act, which aimed to steer utilities away from expanding natural gas service. The Senate version passed in March 2024, according to Earthjustice, but Speaker Carl Heastie never brought it to the Assembly floor, and another member took over the bill in 2025.
How far selected Fahy bills got
Furthest stage reached by selected bills Fahy sponsored in the Assembly and Senate, from Senate bill records, her office, and the governor's office. The Mohawk River Basin act awaits the governor.
HER VOTING RECORD
On the Senate’s most contested vote of 2025, she voted yes. The Medical Aid in Dying Act passed the Senate 35 to 27 on June 9, 2025, according to WRVO, and a vote list published by the Diocese of Albany records Fahy as a yes. Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an amended version on Feb. 6, 2026, according to Spectrum News.
Her record on bail is more mixed than her critics suggest. She voted for the 2019 bail changes, then voted three times to amend them, according to the Daily Gazette. PagPol could not retrieve the specific bill numbers for those votes. On the state budget, she has questioned some spending: “I question the lack of targeting when it comes to the $3B one-off rebate checks,” she said in a January 2025 budget statement.
WHY SHE RAN AND WHAT SHE BELIEVES
Fahy said she moved to the Senate because “You can get more done,” according to the Enterprise. At her February 2024 launch she promised to reconnect Albany with the Hudson River, add 500 jobs at the Port of Albany, and revive the neighborhood around the closed College of Saint Rose, according to the Daily Gazette.
Climate is the thread through most of her career. “There is nothing natural about these disasters,” she said in 2024, according to the Enterprise. She has also framed her work around people she sees as overlooked. “I’m a voice often for the voiceless,” she told the Enterprise in an earlier interview. In 2016 she co-sponsored Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara‘s autism advisory board law, which became Chapter 469 of 2016.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE
Fahy outraised Danz by a wide margin in 2024. She raised about $468,000 to about $44,000 for Danz, according to the Enterprise. Both also drew public matching funds. In a single July 2024 state report, the Public Campaign Finance Board approved $214,031 for her committee and $147,265 for Danz.
In 2026, three board reports approved $93,750, $151,462, and $129,788 for her committee, a total of $374,000, compared with $111,339 for McHugh across the July and August reports. PagPol could not retrieve her private contribution totals or a breakdown by donor type from the state Board of Elections.
Public matching funds approved in 2026, Capital Region races PagPol profiled
FahyOther candidates
Totals of public matching funds the state Public Campaign Finance Board approved in its June 30, July 30, and Aug. 21, 2026 reports, summed by PagPol. Other reports may add to these figures.
CONTROVERSIES AND CRITICISM
Bail reform was the center of the 2024 campaign. Danz ran an ad built on a five second clip of Fahy saying “I’m very proud of my votes on bail reform.” Fahy said the clip stripped out context. “Sorry, not everything is a soundbite,” she said, according to the Daily Gazette. A Danz spokesperson, Matt Nelligan, answered that “the assemblywoman and her colleagues don’t know how to write laws.”
Danz went further during a debate, saying she “has a voting record that is, in my terms, abhorrent,” according to the Daily Gazette. The NY HEAT Act drew critics inside and outside her party. Heastie cited cost: “Electrifying a home can cost thousands and thousands of dollars,” according to NY1. PagPol found no ethics complaints or lawsuits against Fahy.
CLAIMS VERSUS THE RECORD
Some claims about her reach do not match the map. When she launched her Senate campaign, the Gazette reported she would represent “most of Schenectady County, including the city of Schenectady,” but the county’s election map places the city and Niskayuna in a different district. A 2023 Irish Echo profile credited her with more than 70 bills signed into law, a figure PagPol did not independently audit.
Her energy record also has two sides. Environmental groups, including Earthjustice, celebrated the Senate’s passage of NY HEAT in 2024 as a step away from fossil fuels. Critics, including Republican Assemblyman Phil Palmesano, called it part of a plan to dismantle natural gas service, according to Spectrum News. Fahy argued for compromise: “It’s the 11th hour. We’ve got to be flexible.”
The Mabee Farm Historic Site in Rotterdam, one of the four Schenectady County towns Fahy now represents. (Photo: Schenectadyhistorical, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
SCHENECTADY COUNTY AND STATE AUDITS
Her Schenectady County towns have drawn recent state scrutiny. A Sept. 25, 2026 audit by the State Comptroller found Rotterdam’s town board did not provide for a timely audit of its 2024 books and that the town comptroller did not file the 2024 annual financial report. The audit concerns town officials, not Fahy, but it touches a community she now represents.
Her local announcements there have so far focused on grants. In October 2026 she announced $50,000 for the RC Little League in Rotterdam. “I am thrilled to be able to support RC Little League’s continued impact on our community with this $50,000 grant,” she said in a Senate release.
LOOKING AHEAD
Fahy faces McHugh on Nov. 3, 2026, after running unopposed in the June Democratic primary. A televised debate is scheduled for Oct. 15, and a WRGB preview listed the issues as juvenile crime, solar projects, utility costs, and data centers. Her Schenectady County neighbors include Assemblyman Phil Steck and county Legislature Chair Gary Hughes. For more, visit PagPol’s Schenectady County page or subscribe to the Schenectady County newsletter.
