Kristin Antin’s special sauce is connecting needs with solutions. Kristin is a 12-year resident of the Town of Meredith, a community volunteer, newly elected town council member, campaign coordinator of her town’s recent Supervisor race, and most recently, the creator of RunDelCo.org. In all these outreach experiences, Antin was struck by the number of unsolved local needs. She was equally surprised by the range of her neighbors’ hidden talents. If those could be combined with underutilized town resources through community building, an untapped potential could be realized. The help of local government could be the key.
“Sometimes, it just takes personal connections to make real accomplishments together—reaching out, asking for help with humility. And this moment is an opportunity to build strong communities locally.” Antin sees that change can happen through town boards but most particularly through the county board. “And 2026 presents an opportunity.”
In 2026, New York’s new even-year election law forces many two-year-term Town Supervisor races to be run again this year. “Eight Town Supervisors ran unopposed in 2025” Kristin observed, noting that voters could have a real choice this year if more candidates stepped up to run.
Kristin said she can relate to those who care deeply about their community, want to see it change for the better, want to be actively engaged to hold onto our democracy, are inspired to help, but never imagine themselves running for office. Kristin created RunDelCo.org to fill a need to encourage, inspire and recruit them, to share the things she’s learned, plus provide the tools that make the process less of a mystery and more of an opportunity. She wants to help potential candidates realize that, like herself, they CAN do it
If you are curious to learn more about RunDelCo.org, visit the website. But don’t wait too long. Designating Party petitioning is happening now through April 2. Independent petitioning is April 14-May 19, 2026.
Subscribers to dcDIGEST read this in the March 3rd issue. The Secret Sauce series looks at what sparks concerned bystanders to taking action. These volunteer stories are inspiring. They often bring skills that add in ways we Dems didn’t know we needed!