Republican Pamela Helming will continue to represent the state Senate’s 54th District, which covers Riga, Chili, Wheatland, Rush, and Mendon, along with Wayne, Ontario, and Livingston counties.
According to unofficial results from the state Board of Elections, Helming pulled in 65 percent of the votes. Kenan Baldridge, her Democratic opponent and former town of Rose supervisor, received about 32 percent of the vote.
Helming has represented the 54th District in the state Senate since 2017. She’s a resident of Canandaigua and she previously served as town supervisor and a member of the Town Board.
She co-sponsored legislation, signed into law this past January to create a state task force on rural ambulance services. Her priorities have included bolstering agriculture and protecting water quality, though she’s also a gun-rights supporter who has introduced legislation that would affirm competitive shooting sports clubs and events can continue under new state gun laws.
Like many of her Republican counterparts, Helming has called for state lawmakers to roll back recent bail and parole reforms.
Baldridge was Rose town supervisor in Wayne County for eight years starting in 2012, and he previously served an 11-year stint on the North Rose-Wolcott school board. Baldridge has said that he wants the state to boost funding for child care programs, which he would like to see tied into public schools; dedicate more state funding for rural fire and ambulance departments; and address disparities in health care and insurance.
A volunteer firefighter for 45 years, Baldridge helped form a volunteer organization that brought advanced life support services to ambulance providers in northeast Wayne County. He has a professional background in health care administration and consulting.
