Paul Bologna is a Clarence Republican who spent more than 15 years as an Assembly chief of staff before winning the 144th District seat himself in 2024. A freshman in the Republican minority, he represents parts of Niagara and Erie counties and faces Democrat Donna Dye Sholk on Nov. 3, 2026.
So who is Paul Bologna, how did he get the seat, and what has he done with it? The record runs through a judicial deal that opened the seat, a pick by four county party chairs, five local bills signed into law, a stack of bills to roll back the state’s climate rules, and a challenger focused on utility bills.
Quick Facts
- Party
- Republican (also on the Conservative line)
- Hometown
- Clarence, N.Y.
- Date of Birth
- Not listed in official biographies reviewed
- Current Position
- New York State Assemblymember, 144th District
- Background
- Assembly chief of staff to two western New York members, most recently Michael Norris
- In Office Since
- January 2025
EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY
Bologna was born and raised in the Town of Clarence, according to his Assembly biography. He and his wife, Jessica, a special education teacher, have two young children, Blaire and Graham. He belongs to the Clarence Rotary. PagPol could not confirm his date of birth, his parents, or his education in an official source.
“As a husband and parent of two small children, I know firsthand the challenges families face every day,” he said when he was sworn in. Before running for office he spent more than 15 years as chief of staff to two western New York Assembly members, the last of them Michael Norris of Lockport, according to his Assembly office.
THE STAFFER YEARS, BEFORE 2024
Bologna’s career was built behind the scenes in the Assembly’s Republican minority. In 2016 Norris, a Lockport attorney, won the 144th District seat after Jane Corwin retired, and Bologna went on to run his office. The Erie County Republican Committee later credited him with helping Republican and Conservative candidates win local offices across the district.
In August 2024 Republican and Democratic judicial delegates cross-endorsed Norris for a State Supreme Court seat, and Norris ended his Assembly reelection bid, according to Investigative Post. The outlet noted that a 1989 state commission said such deals clash with the goal of “an independent and nonpartisan judiciary.”
The Republican and Conservative chairs of Erie and Niagara counties interviewed candidates and chose Bologna, endorsing him jointly on Aug. 21, 2024. “I am honored by the trust placed in me by the Republican and Conservative Parties,” he said, according to the Erie County GOP. No primary was held.
THE 2024 RACE
His Democratic opponent was former Lockport Mayor Michelle Roman. She criticized the process that opened the seat. “They didn’t go on an individual-by-individual vote, it was just a group majority vote,” she told the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal. Bologna defended it: “It’s not just two people making the decision.”
Roman also questioned whether the district’s longtime Republican representation had served it. “Are we being served? I don’t see it,” she said. On Nov. 5, 2024, Bologna won 44,350 to 27,402, about 62 percent, according to certified 2024 results. He carried both the Erie and Niagara portions of the district.
THE FIRST YEAR, 2025
Bologna was sworn in on Jan. 8, 2025. A week later he answered Gov. Kathy Hochul’s State of the State. “As a State we cannot spend our way to prosperity, throwing money at self-inflicted problems,” he said, according to his Assembly office, calling her proposed $500 rebate checks “nothing more than a gimmick.”
On April 29 he voted against the Medical Aid in Dying Act, which passed the Assembly 81 to 67, according to the Assembly roll call. In May he voted against two state budget bills, which passed 104 to 46 and 103 to 46. On May 29 his bill letting Pendleton’s building inspector live outside the town passed 146 to 0.
The Erie Canal and the Flight of Five locks in downtown Lockport, the largest city in the 144th Assembly District. (Photo: Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
In August he filed A8996, to let localities opt out of climate law mandates; it drew 13 Republican co-sponsors and no Democrats. In September his Pendleton bill became Chapter 373 of 2025, and a second, naming part of Route 324 in Clarence for Maj. Andrew D. Byers, became Chapter 399.
That fall he filed A9189, the “Upstate Energy Choice Act,” to exempt upstate from the state’s all-electric rule for new buildings, and A9161, to make Sept. 10 “Charlie Kirk Day for Free Expression and Debate.” “The state’s one-size-fits-all electrification mandate ignores these realities,” he wrote in the bill’s justification, according to the Observer in November. “Energy policy should empower, not punish, New Yorkers.”
THE SECOND YEAR, 2026
In January 2026 he filed A10082 to repeal the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act outright. In April Assembly Democrats held his opt-out bill in committee. He also questioned Buffalo’s choice of a police commissioner and her salary. “Taxpayers expect responsible decision-making, especially when the city is under financial strain,” he said, according to Spectrum News.
With Sen. Rob Ortt, he also pressed the state to fund a Niagara County family center. “In a $263 billion budget, there is no excuse for turning our backs on programs that strengthen families,” he said. In May he was recorded as excused on the public protection budget bill and voted against the revenue bill, which passed 91 to 52.
In August his Niagara County rifle hunting extension, carried in the Senate by Ortt, became Chapter 284 of 2026. On Oct. 23 two more of his bills, creating benevolent associations for the Clarence Center and Harris Hill volunteer fire companies, became Chapters 345 and 354. His bill seeking state aid for Barker schools after a power plant closure remains in committee.
THE DISTRICT AND THE PARTY MATH
The 144th District covers the City and Town of Lockport, Pendleton, Newfane, Somerset, Royalton, and other Niagara towns, plus Clarence and Newstead in Erie County, according to the state redistricting map. PagPol could not find official enrollment for the district. Niagara County has 49,723 enrolled Republicans and 48,210 Democrats, according to 2026 state figures in PagPol’s Data Spine.
A view in the Town of Clarence, Bologna’s hometown and the Erie County end of the 144th District. (Photo: Dougtone, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Assembly Democrats won 103 of 150 seats in 2024, more than two-thirds, and also control the Senate and governor’s office. Bologna’s bills that passed were local measures carried in the Senate by Republicans Ortt and Pat Gallivan. For a western New York Democrat’s record, see PagPol’s profile of Tim Kennedy.
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS
Bologna sits on the Banks, Children and Families, Cities, Consumer Affairs and Protection, Economic Development, and Energy committees, according to his Assembly committee page. As a freshman in the minority he holds no leadership post. His Energy Committee seat puts him on the panel that handles the utility and power plant issues at the center of this year’s race.
In the 2025 to 2026 session he is the prime sponsor of 39 bills and a co-sponsor of 86, according to his Assembly sponsor page and PagPol’s Data Spine. That is more than neighbors Angelo Morinello and Patrick Chludzinski but fewer than veterans David DiPietro and Stephen Hawley.
Bills sponsored in 2025 and 2026, western New York Assembly members
BolognaOther Republican membersDemocratic members
Bills each member introduced as prime sponsor in the 2025 and 2026 legislative session. Source: New York State Assembly data, compiled in PagPol’s Data Spine.
WHY HE RAN AND WHAT HE BELIEVES
Bologna says he ran on affordability and common sense. “It is time we get back to basics, offer common-sense solutions to everyday problems and start building a New York state that is safer and more affordable for everyone,” he said in January 2025. His priorities include child care costs, support for first responders, and local control over energy projects.
He has filed bills to exempt baby and child care items from sales tax, to repeal the ban on gas equipment in new buildings, to lift the fracking ban, and to freeze minimum wage increases from 2027. “Serving the people of the 144th Assembly District is a responsibility that I take seriously,” he said.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE
PagPol could not retrieve fundraising, spending, or cash on hand for Bologna for Assembly 2026 or for Dye Sholk from the state Board of Elections. Both candidates take public money. Through Oct. 13, the state’s matching fund program had approved $137,127 for Bologna and $112,824 for Dye Sholk, according to PagPol’s tally of the state’s matching funds reports.
Most of Bologna’s public money came in a single June payment of $127,786. Dye Sholk’s largest payment, $84,305, came in the same June distribution, followed by five smaller ones. The program matches small contributions from residents of the district with public money, so the totals partly reflect how many local donors each campaign has drawn. PagPol could not find either candidate’s top donors.
2026 public matching funds approved in the 144th Assembly District, through Oct. 13
BolognaDye Sholk
Public matching funds approved for each candidate in the 2026 cycle through Oct. 13. Most of Bologna’s total came in one June payment of $127,786. Source: New York State Public Campaign Finance Board.
CONTROVERSIES AND CRITICISM
PagPol found no ethics complaints, lawsuits, or investigations involving Bologna. The main criticism of him has been about how he got the job: through a cross-endorsement deal that put his boss on the bench and a choice by four party chairs rather than primary voters. Roman called the judicial delegate system “the least democratic process in New York State.”
His bills to repeal the climate law and the fracking ban, and his Charlie Kirk Day bill, put him at odds with the Assembly’s Democratic majority, though PagPol found no published reaction to them. Dye Sholk says “Utility bills are high and residents are struggling to pay them,” and makes Niagara power for local residents a top priority.
CLAIMS VERSUS THE RECORD
Bologna’s affordability message matches his votes against budget bills, though he also asked the state to keep funding a Niagara County family center. His child care and energy bills are all still in committee. His enacted laws are local: a building inspector rule, a memorial highway, a hunting extension, and two fire company associations.
He campaigned on public safety, but PagPol found no public safety law he has passed. His volunteer firefighter and EMS incentive bills remain in committee, and he was recorded as excused, for reasons PagPol did not learn, on the 2026 public protection budget bill. For another Assembly member’s record, see PagPol’s profile of Carrie Woerner.
The Kintigh Generating Station in Somerset, near Barker. Bologna has filed a bill seeking state aid for Barker schools after the power plant’s closure. (Photo: Matthew D. Wilson, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons)
STATE COMPTROLLER AUDITS IN THE DISTRICT
Four comptroller audits of the Town of Lockport released in December 2025 found weak controls over fuel, permit fees, and culvert fees. One found the town sold 483 tons of asphalt millings for $929 when they should have brought $9,875, according to the asphalt millings audit.
A 2024 audit found the Town of Pendleton had no scope, timeline, or funding plans for five capital projects. The comptroller reviews the City of Lockport’s budget each year under a 2014 deficit financing law. The Town of Royalton did not file in time to receive a 2025 fiscal stress score.
LOOKING AHEAD
Bologna faces Dye Sholk, a Lockport accountant running on the Democratic and Working Families lines, on Nov. 3, 2026. PagPol found no public polling. Dye Sholk, who says she has more than 40 years in business finance, lists utility costs, Lockport’s water, and health care access as her priorities. For more, visit PagPol’s Niagara County page or subscribe to the Niagara County newsletter.
