TROY – Embattled but confident, Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel E. Abelove has begun his re-election campaign for a second term with the first goal of securing the county Republican Committee endorsement on May 19.

Abelove, 48, of Rensselaer, has begun his push as his nemesis, former state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman resigned in disgrace this week over allegations of sexual abuse.

“He was the most politicized attorney general ever,” Abelove said describing Schneiderman as unethical and immoral.

Scheiderman, a Democrat, signed the indictment of Abelove, a Republican, that a special grand jury handed up in December. Abelove is charged with felony perjury and official misconduct, a misdemeanor, for his handling of a fatal Troy police-involved shooting of a driver in April of 2016.

“These charges are very, very defensible,” Abelove said.

The district attorney said he expects to see them either dismissed after the judge reviews motions filed by his attorney William Dreyer or to be acquitted if his case goes to trial. It is scheduled to start June 20 in County Court.

“We feel pretty good on that,” County Republican Chairman John Rustin of Schaghticoke said about Abelove being cleared.

Abelove has written the 224 Republican committee members asking for their support and will appear before the town and city committees next week to seek their endorsements as he heads to the full county committee meeting

“I’m very, very excited to be running again. I love the job. I’m very dedicated to it,” Abelove said.

Abelove has an active campaign Facebook page. His most recent posting was Monday, the day the New Yorker Magazine reported accusations of Scheneiderman's physical abuse of four women.

“New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman must resign in the face of these horrific allegations. Domestic violence is inexcusable. Period. I join in the growing call for his resignation, and for an independent investigation by the appropriate District Attorney's office into the criminal allegations raised by these brave women,” Abelove posted.

Abelove supporters posted comments supporting the district attorney with some saying that Schneiderman was receiving payback for prosecuting him.

Abelove’s legal problems began when he held the grand jury investigation of Sgt. Randall French fatally shooting Edson Thevenin. Abelove did not have French waive immunity when he testified before the grand jury, which didn't indict French.

The grand jury hearing went ahead even though Schneiderman’s office had been directed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to investigate fatal police shootings of unarmed civilians. Troy police said Thevenin’s car was a weapon and French was justified to fire his weapon.

Abelove is viewed by Republicans as standing up to the Democrats in Albany.

“Joel's a good DA. He’s done a good job,” said Tom Casey, the Troy City Republican chair.

Committee members, who asked not to be identified, said Abelove is widely supported in the county committee. They said there is scattered opposition, but not enough to derail his bid for a second term. While potential candidates for the Republican nomination were mentioned early in the year, none of them has made a public effort to secure party support.

Abelove said he will campaign on his record and experience as a prosecutor pointing to murder convictions of Johnny Oquendo and Joseph Vandenburgh and long sentences his office has secured. He said he's taken steps to reduce staff churn by increasing salaries for assistant district attorneys.

The county Democrats have endorsed Mary Pat Donnelly of East Greenbush to run for district attorney. Donnelly recently resigned as an East Greenbush town justice to begin fundraising and campaigning. As a town justice, she could not actively campaign to be district attorney. She works in the Albany city courts as a staff attorney.

The petitioning period begins June 5 with a July 12 deadline for filing the petitions with the county Board of Elections. If the court date stands, Abelove will be on trial while he and Donnelly are circulating nominating petitions.

Abelove said he will aggressively pursue the minor party lines as he did four years ago. Those ballot positions are crucial for Republicans who have to overcome the Democrats’ enrollment edge.

Abelove’s campaign committee, Friends of Joel Abelove, reported in its January disclosure filing that it had on hand $4,495. The committee also owed Abelove $40,000 in loans from his successful 2014 election campaign to win his current four-year term.

Donnelly for District Attorney is newly formed, the committee has not yet had to file a disclosure statement.

The county GOP committee meeting will be at 2 p.m. May 19 at the Lakeview on Crystal Lake Restaurant in Averill Park. In addition to the endorsement for district attorney, the committee is expected to back a candidate to run for the seat of retiring state Sen. Kathy Marchione of Halfmoon, who is not seeking a fourth two-year term.