By Emma Ralls
March 7, 2026
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Former Spa City Mayor Ron Kim was recently unanimously elected interim Chairman of the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee, succeeding Otis Maxwell.
According to Kim, he was inspired to ‘step up’ after the most recent local election, as only one candidate endorsed by the committee, in contested races, won a seat on the City Council.
“There was obviously some concern from the last election, there were some concerns among members of the Democratic Party – that we needed to maybe go in a different direction – and I think Otis has done a great job under very difficult circumstances,” Kim said. “The other thing is, we have a really good committee and since the election, we have done a lot of great due diligence to really look at what we can do better.
“There’s never been a more critical time locally, statewide, nationally, to step up to the plate. I felt like I needed to take that step and I was honored that the committee unanimously endorsed me and was ready to move forward.”
“There’s never been a more critical time locally, statewide, nationally, to step up to the plate.”
Ron Kim, SSDC Chair
He added that it was after taking part in some of the post-election forums the committee held, hosted by Toula Ousouljoglou, that it served as a real learning experience, which made him interested. It was following these reflective sessions that Kim noted that there was a lot of internal talk about the need for change, and how important he personally felt it to do what he could to help.
Beyond the transition of the Chair position, there were other members of the Executive Committee who stepped down from their roles. Overall, though, Kim believes that there is some “great talent” on the committee and that they are recruiting a lot of great talent as well.
“I think the resignations of the Executive Committee were more a sort of transparency and also (reflected) their desire to listen to what the public was saying, to be accountable,” Kim explained. “A lot of them have stayed on the committee, and that’s great that they still want to serve the city, so I think it was more about being in touch with and listening to what the public was saying.
“We are going to work on putting together a new executive committee; it’s part of the process, but our main focus right now is really the petitions because we have a window to collect signatures and we want to make sure we do that. We’ve basically armed all our committee people with the tools they need to do that, and so that’s our focus. After that, we’re going to get into more of the reorganization part and move forward.”
And though the Democrats saw a fair share of losses during the previous local election, Kim noted he believes one of the good aspects that came from that was that it created a lot of energy as well as a sense of urgency and that the committee needed to do better and quickly because there are some crucial races coming up – with Kim highlighting the effort to flip the 44th District 44th State Senate seat, currently held by Republican Jim Tedisco, as well as the effort to re-elect U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko and State Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner.
Kim also noted one of the main focuses of the committee in the near future is placing an emphasis on recruiting good candidates to lead the city.
“Saratoga Springs deserves the best candidates, and we’re going to make sure that happens in 2027,” Kim said. “We’re really excited about making sure that we get people who are equally in love with our city and want to serve the City. It’s a difficult job, and I tip my hat to anyone who sits there at the city council table and works on the city council, but I also think that if you’re in those positions, you ought to do something.
“I think the priorities that, as democratic committee members, agree we ought to be doing is making sure that our constituents – because each one of these committee people essentially represents a district in our community – are well informed about what’s going on and, probably more important, what’s not going on in City Hall and how that affects our city,” Kim said.
One local issue Kim pointed towards was homelessness, noting that they want to find candidates who will take a stand. Instead of “closing the homeless shelter,” Kim says the Committee wants to identify candidates who are willing to find a solution.
“Last time I checked, for six years we had 30 to 40 people in the Woodlawn Garage, and when you close RISE (temporary low-barrier shelter), it’s going to happen again,” Kim noted. “So I don’t know what the solution is, I know there is some county concept, but I’m not sure it can happen before October 2026 – so we’re going to make sure that people are aware of those things, we’re going to talk about them and not be afraid to sort of challenge our representatives, because they need to step up.”
As his time as Chair begins, Kim wants local Democrats to know that the committee is focused and ready to put in the work to achieve success in 2026. One of the ways this will come about is through their Democratic Representatives knocking on their doors in the next three to four weeks with petitions for Woerner, Tonko, and others, such as their own, since they are elected into this role.
“These are the people that if they want to reach out and find out what the Democratic Party stands for, or learn more about how to get involved, or any of those issues – that’s a person they want to touch base with,” Kim noted. “ So we’ll be fanning out in the next few weeks, and we want to make sure people take that opportunity to engage with their elected representatives; they’re probably the closest elected representatives they have.”
And on whether Kim will look to continue being on as Chair through official means, once the interim period expires at the official reorganizational meeting in the fall, he says that will be up to the other democrats in the city.
“All of us sort of serve at the pleasure of the public and our voting constituency. In this case, it’s the Enrolled Democrats in the city,” Kim noted. “If the committee wants me to continue, I will. If the committee believes there’s another direction we ought to go, come November 2026, I’m also willing to do that and still be supportive.”