ALBANY – Aiming to shake up Albany County's political scene, the state Working Families Party is endorsing two progressive challengers for district attorney and the 108th Assembly district, seats currently held by longstanding Democratic incumbents.

The party is backing attorney Matthew Toporowski over District Attorney David Soares and Albany County Legislator Samuel Fein against Assemblyman John McDonald, D-Cohoes. The latter is the party's first endorsement of a primary challenger for a sitting Assembly Democrat this election cycle.

It is also the first time the party has refused to endorse Soares since it propelled him to a surprising victory over then-incumbent Paul Clyne in the 2004 Democratic primary. Soares, seeking his fifth term, has not faced a challenger since the 2012 Democratic primary.

Toporowski said if elected, he would focus on the issues that cause crime, an echo of the same rhetoric that Soares used during his insurgent 2004 campaign. He was an assistant district attorney in Soares' office.

“I vow to end the failed policies of ‘over-prosecute and over-punish’ that have fueled mass incarceration and led to a 50 percent higher incarceration rate than the state’s average in Albany,” Toporowski said in a statement, citing a study by the Vera Institute.

In the 2004 race, the Working Families Party donated tens of thousands of dollars to Soares, supporting his platform to demand the state reform its Rockefeller Drug Laws. Soares beat Clyne by a nearly 2-1 margin in an upset that rocked the county Democratic machine. Since then, Soares has cruised to re-election repeatedly.

But in recent years progressives have criticized him, especially while he served a one-year term as the president of the District Attorneys Association of New York. In that role, Soares was often the public face of the group’s opposition to the state Legislature’s passage of new laws governing bail reform and discovery rules for prosecutors. Last year, Citizen Action, a progressive activist group, accused him of using "scare tactics" as prosecutors lobbied against the criminal justice reforms.

For his part, Soares has said he supports bail reform but wants to see amendments to the law, including giving judges more discretion in setting bail for certain crimes.

The party said it endorsed Fein, the second-term county legislator against McDonald, a four-term incumbent, because of McDonald’s criticism last year of sweeping tenant reform and mixed feelings on a $15 minimum wage in upstate New York.

McDonald, 57, was first elected to the Assembly in 2012 and last faced a primary challenger that year, beating WFP-backed Carolyn McLaughlin by about 10 percentage points. The party has never supported McDonald, declining to endorse any candidate in the 108th district in the years when he has not faced an opponent.

Fein, 29, pitched himself as McDonald's more progressive neighbor, touting support for higher taxes on billionaires and policies that address racial and economic inequality in the state capital.

“Working families in the 108th District are struggling," Fein said in a statement. "Over the past few decades, almost all of the wealth created has gone to a few people at the top while wages for working families have stayed flat, benefits have disappeared, and expenses have skyrocketed. We need a representative who will be a champion for the issues that impact working families.”

Primaries for state seats are in June.

WFP also released a slate of eight other Capital Region endorsements on Thursday. The party is backing Schenectady resident Thearse McCalmon for the 49th state Senate District against Sen. Jim Tedisco, R-Glenville; activist Joe Seeman for the 112th Assembly District against Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh, R-Ballston; and grocery store manager Brittany Vogel for the 107th Assembly District against Assemblyman Jake Ashby, R-Castleton.

Three incumbent Democrats at the state level received endorsements: state Sen. Neil Breslin, D-Bethlehem, Assemblyman Phil Steck, D-Colonie and U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam. The party is also backing Chief City Auditor Dorcey Applyrs and First Ward Common Councilor Sonia Fredericks for re-election.

Sochie Nnaemeka, the party’s state director, said all the candidates the party endorsed had a track record of fighting for change.

“Upstate and downstate, the WFP is working to build a New York for the many — and these are the bold progressive leaders that the Capital District’s working families deserve,” she said in a statement.