On Tuesday, Feb. 11, voters will head to the polls for a special election to decide the future of Westchester County's top political job.

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins, a Democrat, is being challenged by Republican Christine Sculti.

Jenkins is running on his long career in politics which included serving seven years as the Deputy County Executive under now-Congressman George Latimer. Jenkins was named county executive earlier this year.

He told News 12 he wants to build more affordable housing, keep taxes low and complete the county airport master plan.

Sculti, who served as a Chief Advisor to former County Executive Rob Astorino, wants to reverse congestion pricing, reduce government spending and have the county work more closely with federal officials on immigration enforcement.

News 12 gave both candidates the opportunity to sit down and answer questions but Jenkins was the only candidate who agreed.

"We are going to work together to make sure that Westchester County can be as affordable as it can be, safe as it can be driving crime rates down and continuing to have a community that's open for everyone," Jenkins said.

The winner of the race will serve the remainder of Latimer's term which expires at the end of this year. There could be two additional elections for this seat including a possible June primary and a November general election for a new four-year term.

In a big decision late last week, a New York appellate court reversed a lower court's ruling that overturned the New York Voting Rights Act. Six Black and Hispanic voters filed a lawsuit last March alleging Newburgh's at-large voting system dilutes the voting power of minority voters. Last November, a judge in Orange County not only dismissed the case but she also ruled the voting rights act was entirely unconstitutional.

Attorney for those six residents and Westchester legislator David Imamura praised the ruling.

"It's a long road ahead but I was very hopeful coming out of this and we always thought the law was constitutional. We are happy that we were vindicated in that by the Appellate Division's decision," he said.

Attorneys for the town told News 12 in a statement: "We continue to believe that the NYVRA's vote-dilution provisions violate the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution, under clearly established U.S. Supreme Court caselaw. We are discussing with out clients the next steps that we will take in combatting this legally meritless lawsuit." The panel ruling last week revived the law and allowed the lawsuit to return to a trial court.

New data released by a Siena College poll this week provides new insight to political futures and policies in New York State. Gov. Kathy Hochul has a negative 39-47% favorability rating and her job approval rating sits at 44-48%. Both remain mostly the same from a December poll, according to February's data. 31% of voters said they would re-elect Hochul while 57% want someone else. Hochul is up for re-election next year and is likely to face both a competitive primary election in June and general election in November if she were to win next summer. Many of her proposals for the state budget did receive positive marks. Free meals for students, putting police officers on New York City's subways overnight, increasing the child tax credit, implementing a school cellphone ban and sending out inflation rebate checks all saw broad support. 42% of respondants said these idea could improve the lives of everyday New Yorkers compared to 26% who felt otherwise. President Donald Trump has a negative 41-56% favorability rating, up from 37-59% in December, with the 41% matching his highest ever favorable rating. By a 50-36% margin, voters say New York state is headed in the wrong direction, exactly the same as it was in December.