Patrick Carroll is a Democratic lawyer from Bardonia who represents the 96th Assembly District, covering Clarkstown, Haverstraw, Nyack, and South Nyack. A former administrative law judge and the only Democrat on the Clarkstown Town Board throughout his tenure there, he won the seat in 2024 after Ken Zebrowski left, and he is seeking a second term this fall.
So who is Patrick Carroll, what has he passed, and why does the official record show him voting against his own bill? The record runs through a fight with Clarkstown’s supervisor over term limits, a string of local laws, statewide bills stuck in committee, and a Nov. 3 race against Republican Brett Yagel.
Quick Facts
- Party
- Democratic (also on the Working Families line)
- Hometown
- Bardonia, N.Y. (Town of Clarkstown)
- Date of Birth
- Not listed in official biographies reviewed
- Current Position
- New York State Assembly, 96th District
- Background
- Attorney; former state administrative law judge; former Clarkstown Town Council member
- In Office Since
- December 2024
EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY
Carroll earned his bachelor’s degree at Wesleyan University and his law degree at Northeastern University School of Law, according to his Assembly biography. He lives in Bardonia with his wife, Natalie, and their four daughters, Madelyn, Lily, Paige, and Hailey.
He coaches CYO basketball, supports the Hudson Valley Special Olympics, and volunteers with Keep Rockland Beautiful. PagPol could not confirm his birthplace or date of birth in an official source. His early political career began in Rhode Island, where he served on the Town of Glocester council from 2004 to 2008.
LAWYER AND COUNCILMAN, 2004 TO 2023
Carroll has practiced law since 2008 and is admitted in New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. He worked in private practice in Providence, as counsel to the Rhode Island Department of Corrections and a state Senate committee, and as a hearing officer for New York’s prison system, according to the Rockland County Times.
In 2017, while working as a Department of Motor Vehicles administrative law judge, he ran for the Clarkstown council’s Ward 4 seat, citing “a lack of civility and an overabundance of political partisanship.” He unseated Republican John Noto Jr. In 2019 he won reelection over Scott Milich, 2,387 to 2,161, according to Patch, and in 2021 he ran unopposed.
In January 2023 the Republican-led board voted 3 to 2 to repeal the town’s term limits law, which would have barred Supervisor George Hoehmann from seeking a fifth term. Carroll and Republican Frank Borelli voted no. Weeks later Hoehmann proposed a ward map that would put both men in the same seat, according to the Journal News.
Carroll called the map “a direct retaliatory attack on us, our constituents, democracy, and the entire Clarkstown community.” Hoehmann answered, “No one was targeted, and saying so is ridiculous.” A state judge sided with Carroll’s side in March 2023, but in May the state’s top court ruled the 2014 term limits law invalid because it never went to a referendum.
Clarkstown Town Hall in New City in April 2025. Carroll held the council’s Ward 4 seat before moving to the Assembly. (Photo: Mr. Matté, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
WINNING THE ASSEMBLY SEAT, 2024
In January 2024 Zebrowski said he would not run again, and Carroll became the first candidate in. “Filling my good friend Ken Zebrowski’s shoes will be no easy task,” he said, according to the Rockland Report. He told City & State he was “the best chance to retain this seat for the Democrats.”
He had no primary. Zebrowski resigned in July to join a lobbying firm. On Nov. 5, 2024, Carroll beat Republican Ronald Diz 36,433 to 25,458, or 58.8 percent, according to certified 2024 results. In 2024 he drew at least $165,578 in public matching funds; PagPol found none for Diz.
He was sworn in on Dec. 9, 2024, to fill the seat Zebrowski vacated. “Our community needs strong leaders in Albany to ensure that our voices are heard on important issues,” he said, according to his Assembly office. He began his full term in January 2025.
THE FIRST YEAR, 2025
In January 2025 Carroll called congestion pricing “an ill-conceived plan and regressive tax that negatively impacts hardworking Rocklanders,” according to his Assembly office. In February he filed A5071, a Cuomo Bridge toll discount for Rockland and Westchester residents. It has not left committee.
On April 29 he voted against the Medical Aid in Dying Act, A136, which passed 81 to 67 and later became law. In May he backed the public protection and education budget bills. He filed A8585 to phase out PFAS chemicals, and in September A9107 to make data centers and other heavy power users pay their own rate class. Both remain in committee.
In October he attacked the federal government over food aid. “The Trump administration is withholding contingency funds that Congress already appropriated to sustain SNAP,” he said. “This is cruel, unlawful, and unconscionable.” In December Gov. Kathy Hochul signed his first law, A6657, letting the Thiells-Roseville Fire District seek a property tax exemption, as Chapter 658 of 2025.
THE SECOND YEAR, 2026
In February 2026 a technical fix to that law, A9459, became Chapter 65 of 2026. In May the Assembly passed his bill extending Clarkstown’s cap on shifting taxes between property classes, A10158, 134 to 0. It drew no opposition in either house except one Senate vote, from Democrat James Skoufis.
On June 3 the Assembly passed his bill letting Clarkstown create a land preservation fund paid for by a real estate transfer tax of up to 0.75 percent, A11349, 94 to 46. Republican Sen. Bill Weber carried it. The official roll call records Carroll voting no on his own bill. PagPol could not determine whether that was deliberate or a recording error.
Lake DeForest, the reservoir in Clarkstown, seen looking south from High Tor. (Photo: Lithium6ion, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
The New York State Association of Realtors opposed a similar Orangetown fund. “New York is in the midst of a housing supply and affordability crisis,” the group said, according to the Rockland County Business Journal. On June 23 Carroll easily beat Stony Point accountant P.T. Thomas in the Democratic primary, according to News 12. PagPol could not find the vote totals.
On July 31 Hochul signed the tax shift bill as Chapter 187 and the preservation fund as Chapter 191. “There will be a referendum to either approve or reject the Clarkstown Community Preservation Fund,” Carroll said in August. That month his cell tower lease bill, A11386, became Chapter 276, and in October his bill on Rockland assistant county attorneys, A8344, went to the governor.
THE DISTRICT AND THE PARTY MATH
The 96th District covers Clarkstown, Haverstraw, and Nyack and South Nyack in Orangetown. It had 43,175 enrolled Democrats and 20,443 Republicans out of 92,788 voters early this year, according to the Rockland County Board of Elections. Rockland as a whole voted about 55 percent for Donald Trump in 2024.
Democrats held 103 of the Assembly’s 150 seats after the 2024 election, enough for a two-thirds supermajority. Republicans control Clarkstown’s town government, the district’s largest town. Carroll’s Senate partner on local bills is a Republican, Weber, and his neighbors are Democrat Aron Wieder in the 97th District and Republican Karl Brabenec in the 98th.
The Village of Nyack and the Hudson River seen from Hook Mountain. Nyack and South Nyack are the 96th District’s share of Orangetown. (Photo: Alexisrael, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS
Carroll sits on six Assembly committees: Consumer Affairs and Protection, Election Law, Governmental Employees, Judiciary, Oversight, Analysis and Investigation, and People with Disabilities, according to his Assembly committee page. He holds no chair, ranking post, or leadership role in his second year.
He prime-sponsored 57 bills and co-sponsored 141 in the 2025 and 2026 session, according to Assembly data in PagPol’s Data Spine. That is fewer co-sponsorships than most Hudson Valley colleagues; Dana Levenberg co-sponsored 817. He co-sponsored and voted for the Responsible Data Center Development Act, A11560, which passed in June.
Bills sponsored in 2025 and 2026, Rockland and Westchester Assembly members
CarrollOther Democratic membersRepublican members
Bills each member introduced as prime sponsor in the 2025 and 2026 legislative session. In the 96th District, Carroll won by 17.7 points in 2024, slightly more than Zebrowski’s 16.9-point margin in 2022. Sources: New York State Assembly data, compiled in PagPol’s Data Spine; state Board of Elections.
WHY HE RAN AND WHAT HE BELIEVES
Carroll says he ran to protect the “suburban quality of life that exists in Haverstraw, Nyack and Clarkstown.” He lists schools, cutting government waste, the environment, and opposing overdevelopment as priorities. “Rockland County sends a lot of tax dollars to Albany and we don’t always see it return to our communities,” he wrote in a 2025 newsletter.
He breaks with his party on some issues, opposing congestion pricing and medical aid in dying. “I’ll always fight for Rockland regardless of who is in the Governor’s Mansion,” he said. In his summer 2026 newsletter he backed a buffer zone for protests near houses of worship, limits on ghost guns, and a ban on masks for ICE agents.
2025 NYLCV environmental scores, Hudson Valley Assembly members
CarrollOther Democratic membersRepublican members
Scores out of 100 on the New York League of Conservation Voters’ 2025 legislative scorecard, which rates votes on environmental bills. Source: NYLCV 2025 scorecard.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE
PagPol could not retrieve Carroll’s totals raised, spent, or on hand from the state Board of Elections and found no news reports of his filings. The state’s public matching fund program approved about $182,321 for his 2026 campaign, according to PagPol’s tally of the state’s matching funds distributions.
His primary challenger, Thomas, drew $157,085 in public funds, slightly more than the roughly $155,000 Carroll drew for the primary. His general election opponent, Yagel, a former Pomona mayor who lost to Zebrowski in 2022, had drawn only about $4,220 by late August. Carroll’s public money is more than 40 times Yagel’s.
2026 public matching funds approved for 96th District candidates
CarrollPrimary challengerGeneral election opponent
Public matching funds approved for each candidate in the 2026 cycle. Thomas’s total covers the June primary, which he lost. Yagel’s figure is through late August. Source: New York State Public Campaign Finance Board.
CONTROVERSIES AND CRITICISM
The term limits fight remains Carroll’s sharpest local clash. Borelli, his Republican ally, said of Hoehmann’s map, “Two weeks after we disagreed with him on term limits, there is suddenly a new map.” Carroll’s side won at trial but lost on appeal, and Hoehmann won a fifth term in November 2023.
PagPol found no ethics complaints or lawsuits against Carroll and no attacks by name from Diz, Thomas, or Yagel. In his 2022 race Yagel said, “One-party rule in Albany is ruining the Quality of Life of everyday citizens and residents,” according to Patch.
CLAIMS VERSUS THE RECORD
Carroll’s fall 2025 newsletter said he “passed 11 bills through the Assembly” in 2025, “more than any other first-term legislator.” PagPol could not verify that claim, and the four priority bills in the same mailer never left committee. His enacted laws are local: a fire district tax break, Clarkstown tax rules, a transfer tax, and a cell tower lease.
His toll, PFAS, and utility bills have not moved, though he says parts of his data center bill went into the larger measure that passed in June. For other Assembly members’ records, see PagPol’s profiles of Carrie Woerner and Bill Magnarelli.
Haverstraw Bay Park on the Hudson River in Haverstraw in May 2025. (Photo: Roadgeek Adam, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
STATE COMPTROLLER AUDITS IN THE DISTRICT
A December 2025 comptroller North Rockland audit of the school district found $94.4 million in unbudgeted year-end transfers and surplus fund balance at times above the 4 percent legal cap. Superintendent Kris Felicello said the district felt “penalized for responsible, effective leadership.”
While Carroll sat on the council, the comptroller rated Clarkstown “susceptible to fiscal stress,” with a score of 53.8 for 2020, according to the state’s fiscal stress list. Scores had been 60.4 in 2018 and 63.8 in 2019, and the town was removed from the list in 2022.
LOOKING AHEAD
Carroll faces Yagel, who is running on the Republican and Conservative lines, on Nov. 3, 2026. PagPol found no public polling in the race and Yagel had no campaign website as of September. For more, visit PagPol’s Rockland County page or subscribe to the Rockland County newsletter.
