Kisha Skipper has won her long-shot Democratic primary election for upstate’s Westchester County legislator position in District 15. She’s hoping to keep the momentum going all the way to November and oust Republican incumbent James Nolan.
According to the Westchester County Board of Elections, Skipper earned 1,341 votes, narrowly pulling ahead of her opponent, Anthony Nicodemo, who got 1,182 votes.
Skipper, who was backed by the Working Families Party (WFP), doesn’t consider herself a politician but rather a concerned member of the community. She is a disability and civil rights advocate, as a permanently disabled person suffering from breathing issues because of long-COVID. She was the chair of the Yonkers NAACP chapter and founder and chairperson of the Little Lions Big Hearts Foundation, which supports families with infants born with congenital heart defects.
In the general election, she’ll be facing off with Nolan, who is the Republican nominee.
“The incumbent is a Republican that perpetuates Trump-era politics and propaganda,” said Skipper. “He’s polarizing, similar to the commander in chief, consistently attacking the Democratic electeds and so it’s a challenge for him to get anything for our district, to fight for anything for our district, even if he wanted to.”
The Westchester County Board of Legislators is composed of 17 legislators. Each legislator serves a two-year elected term and represents a district of about 59,000 residents. The board can create laws, approve the county budget, and provide oversight of county government operations. The board works under the current Westchester County Executive, Ken Jenkins.
“Our county government is responsible for infrastructure, our roads and highways, our parks, our department of social services, and transportation. So our Bee-Line busing all comes out of the county budget,” said Skipper.
Skipper said she decided to run for office because she feels like the district doesn’t have fair and equitable representation. Her district covers Yonkers, Bronxville, and Eastchester.
Skipper worked as an aide to the Yonkers City Council and an election technician with the Westchester County BOE. During the pandemic in 2020, Skipper became oxygen dependent after having COVID pneumonia in both lungs. With her limited mobility, she saw the inequities when it came to transportation, access to voting or polling places, and health care.
“So physical limitations and getting access to buildings to even go vote was a challenge. Waiting two hours or more for paratransit to and from medical appointments because I wasn’t able to drive. Having to move into public housing because I had zero income when I was not able to work. And the process for disability benefits is very lengthy. I had two school-age children,” said Skipper. “All of these things gave me a front row seat to the inequities and the challenges that we made, we need to do better.”
She’s always been a “worker bee” behind the scenes and hit the streets doorknocking with her family in full force to canvas for votes, starting in February during a blizzard all the way up to the most recent heat wave in June. Skipper said that she was supported by senior residents and dedicated volunteers.
“It was exhausting, and I was an insurgent candidate, so it was not the party candidate. I ran against the establishment against the machine, as they say, with very limited resources,” she said. “A few volunteers and just resilience and tenacity. My son and I knocked on doors every single day, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. We stopped [and] we did homework. Later in the evening. We would stop and do dinner together. And just hit as many doors as possible.”
Skipper said that despite the incredible diversity within the district, its Black, Hispanic, Asian American, and white residents are still divided. Back in the day, residents in Yonkers had to file a school and housing desegregation case in 1980 to be treated equally. The county settled the case in 2007, with Yonkers agreeing to build more equitable housing but residents say that never really came to fruition.
“On my side of town, desegregation in Yonkers was in the 90s,” said Skipper.
“So the federal government said you have to build low-income housing east of the saw mill. Like you have to desegregate your schools, you’re busing like everything. This was in the 90s,” she continued. “And unfortunately, since that time, there hasn’t been much movement on that, meaning most of the low-income housing or “affordable housing” is overdeveloped west of the sawmill. And then everything east has been, is kind of segregated, very little people of color.”
Because of the history in the Black community, Skipper wants to platform affordability, housing, and job opportunities. She also wants to invest in more senior citizen exemptions and disabled persons’ rent exemptions.
Skipper notes there’s still some resistance to her as the Democratic nominee, but she’s hoping the “Mamdani effect” will help her win people over in the end. She said that her strategy for winning is going to be continuing her on-the-ground voter engagement. She refuses to be distracted by online rhetoric and Trump-era propaganda.
