Mark Lungariello

mlungariel@lohud.com

Kristen Browde would likely be the first transgender elected official in New York state history if she’s successful in her bid to become the next supervisor of New Castle, the Westchester County town where the Clintons’ home hamlet of Chappaqua is located.

“Yeah, people are going to be focused on that but I’ve got to tell you this: My gender isn’t going to balance the budget,” Browde said. “My gender isn’t going to fill a pothole or get the streets plowed of snow. My gender isn’t really going to be the factor that makes people’s lives in New Castle better. But what I do in office? That will.”

Browde, 66, an attorney and former CBS News reporter, will announce her candidacy on the steps of Town Hall today as the head of a Democratic ticket whose members are part of a group called Up2Us, which was spawned from the Chappaqua Friends of Hillary. Her announcement will represent the first transgender candidate on a major party line in New York.

She came out publicly last year after transitioning and although she says the election will be about policies, she's not shying away from her status as a trailblazer for transgender candidates either.

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“People say, why can’t you just be quiet and blend into society and nobody’s going to know that you’re trans and that’s probably true,” she said. “But, a friend of mine put it greatly and it’s a line that I use all of the time. It’s that I don’t hide my past, because in not hiding my past, I might help someone else to not hide their future.”

Running for office will be a change of a different kind for Browde, formerly David Browde, who spent three decades working as a news reporter for CBS and NBC 4 New York.

“It’s something I’m having to get used to that you guys are asking me questions instead of the other way around,” she told a Journal News reporter Tuesday. She’ll be taking on two-term incumbent Robert Greenstein in November.

Hillary supporters

Browde is running alongside Town Board candidates Ivy Pool, a business owner and management consultant, and Gail Markels, president of Markets Strategies, a company that provides services to industry trade associations and businesses.

All three were Hillary Clinton supporters during last year’s election. Browde campaigned for Clinton in North Carolina, where Democrats won the governor and attorney general seats. Markels worked in Pennsylvania.

Browde said she viewed her candidacy as part of a grassroots movement taking hold in communities across the country after the results of last year's presidential election.

“Everybody’s building from the ground up,” she said. “A lot of people say what town governments do have a much more direct and personal effect on people than what goes on in Washington. Well, I think both matter, but you start to win back Washington by starting to win back towns like New Castle.”

Still, the campaign will be focused on local issues, she said, such as property taxes and enhancing the elite Chappaqua public schools, where one of her two sons attends middle school. The Democratic slate will be taking an approach of good ideas before partisanship and collaboration from across the aisle. Good suggestions are good suggestions whether they come from Democrats or Republicans, she said.

“What we’re going to do to launch this campaign is to go on our own version of a listening tour, which is to go to every corner of the Town of New Castle and talk to the people who see these problems up close and personal, the people for whom the various issues in this town are truly personal,” she said.

Twitter: @marklungariello