Jennifer "Jen" Metzger (born February 3, 1965) is an American politician serving as the

County Executive A county executive, county manager or county mayor is the head of the executive branch of government in a United States county. The executive may be an elected or an appointed position. When elected, the executive typically functions either as a ...

Ulster County, New York Ulster County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston. The county is named after the Irish province of Ulster. History ...

since 2023. She is a member of the

Democratic Party (United States) The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. Founded in 1828, it was predominantly built by Martin Van Buren, who assembled a wide cadre of politicians in every state behind war hero An ...

. She previously represented the 42nd district in the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

from 2019 to 2020, and served on the Rosendale town council from 2013 to 2018.

Background

Metzger was born and raised in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She graduated from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

in 1987 and earned her Ph.D. in political science from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

in 2004. She is married with three children. In 1988, Metzger began work as a public affairs coordinator with the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

, and later served as an instructor at the Walt Whitman Center for Culture and Politics of Democracy and

. In 2001, Metzger and her husband moved to

Rosendale, New York Rosendale is a town in the center of Ulster County, New York, United States. It once contained a village Rosendale, primarily centered around Main Street, but which was dissolved through vote in 1977. The population was 5,782 at the 2020 census. ...

, a hamlet in the

Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...

. She later chaired the Rosendale environmental commission and served as deputy town supervisor. In 2013, Metzger was elected to the Rosendale Town Council. She was reelected in 2017. Metzger founded the nonprofit organization Citizens for Local Power, which organized dozens of town and city councils across the country.

New York State Senate

In February 2018, Metzger announced that she would challenge longtime Republican Senator

John Bonacic John J. Bonacic (born June 14, 1942 in New York City) is a retired politician from New York. A Republican, Bonacic represented New York State Senate District 42 (which includes all or parts of Delaware, Sullivan, Orange, and Ulster Counties) ...

for his seat. Several months later, Bonacic announced that he would retire. In September, Metzger defeated Pramilla Malick in the Democratic primary. She faced Orange County Clerk Annie Rabbitt in the general election. Metzger defeated Rabbitt 52% to 48%. Metzger was named Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee. In 2019, she voted for the Green Light Law, which allowed undocumented immigrants to obtain driver licenses. She also voted for a law that ended cash bail in New York, but later proposed revisions to that law. Metzger was the lead sponsor of the "Boss Bill", a 2019-passed law that bars employers from taking employees' reproductive health choices into account when making employment decisions. She introduced a bill that, if passed, would codify New York's existing ban on hydraulic fracking, as well as a constitutional amendment to bar the inclusion of non-budgetary legislation in the New York state budget. She is a supporter of a single-payer health insurance system. In 2020, Metzger lost her re-election bid to Republican Mike Martucci.

References

External links

* * Living people 1965 births People from Rosendale, New York Oberlin College alumni Rutgers University alumni Democratic Party New York (state) state senators Women state legislators in New York (state) 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians County executives in New York (state) {{NewYork-NYSenate-stub