Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin is running for re-election.

He kicked off his campaign with an event at Turnkey Office Solutions in North Greenbush.

McLaughlin was first elected to the position back in 2017.

McLaughlin discussed several topics at Thursday morning’s event, including what he plans to do about illegal immigrants in his city.

“Our streets will be safe. We will not let illegal immigrants storm into this county. We said no to that too,” said McLaughlin. “If we have arrested someone and they are already in our jail and they are here illegally, they’re getting run through a federal database to make sure that they are not wanted by ICE.”

McLaughlin was asked Thursday about other positions he could be in the running for. As NewsChannel 13 reported, he also applied to become the next president of Hudson Valley Community College in Troy.
The school has been without a president since Roger Ramsammy was fired last June after a 13Investigates report.

McLaughlin has shown interest in running for Elise Stefanik’s seat in New York State’s 21st Congressional District.

He says there is always a chance for change, but right now he is committed to serving his county.