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Publication Date: August 27th, 2025
Photo taken directly from SpearforMayor.com (27 Aug, 2025)
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Summary: Peter Spear has ended his campaign for mayor of Hudson, but not before reshaping the race, and galvanizing our post-Galvan future. He stood out as the only candidate consistently visible in the streets and on the internet, listening, talking, and proposing ideas. His candidacy exposed the absence of leadership at City Hall, contrasting his energy with Mayor Kamal Johnson’s absenteeism (and characteristic non-responsiveness, as we pointed out here). Spear may be out of the race (though still regrettably on the ballot), yet his vision for how to make Hudson America’s best small town may still frame the debate. Peter returns to the role he seems best suited for, a civic entrepreneur shaping urban debate with ideas and provocations that command attention.
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Peter Spear dropped out of the mayor’s race (which we covered here) last week with the surprising twist to his usual alley chat introduction. His familiar videos usually start off with “My name is Peter Spear, and I am running for mayor,” almost like a familiar and comforting BBC or NPR opening jingle, now, abruptly changed to “My name is Peter Spear, and I am not running for mayor.”
Spear deserves credit for daring to run as an independent in a town, a county, and a country addicted to partisan warfare. Independence carries a special burden. You are accused of naivety by both sides while striving to forge a path without the backing of party machinery. The decision is evidence of his principled nature and hopefulness, but also perhaps of the impractical idealism that kept him from winning. And in a town where out-in-the-open Republicans are as scarce as open restaurants on a Tuesday night, independents carry the additional burden of being the official opposition.
“My name is Peter Spear, and I am not running for mayor.” ⬇️
Read Spear’s withdrawal, covered by the Gossips of Rivertown ⬇️
Peter had the makings of a strong mayoral candidate, and was certainly a more capable, ambitious, and principled one than Mayor Kamal. A counterfactual history of Hudson, where Spear ran for mayor of Hudson 6 years ago (as he and others explored at the time) would make a very interesting, and very depressing, read. 2025 candidate Spear was not perfect. Though a longtime Hudson resident, he is more familiar with some communities than others. Like virtually every candidate for election, he has sparred with Hudson Common Sense editors on the merit and method of the Fourth and now Fifth Estate. At times (in the Colarusso affaire, for example) he risked using the subjective “neighborliness” Spear-stamp of approval as a cudgel, just as the pro-housing lobby invokes a certain subjective view of “community” to moralize and police politically desired behavior, instead of simply sticking to the law of the land. And his lack of independent and first-principle thinking to rush a me-too statement on federal issues like ICE Sanctuary Cities revealed that perhaps he was not immune to partisan reflexes.
Yet unlike most, he listened. After all, listening and noticing is his profession. He tried new ideas too. He began with [Citizen Assemblies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens'_assembly#:~:text=Citizens'%20assembly%20is%20a%20group,as%20to%20exert%20an%20influence.) morning, noon, and night, and ended with a 100-day plan full of tangible ideas, legitimate attacks on the mayor’s corruption, common sense proposals, risky comparisons, and hope.
An experienced brand strategist, he devised the walk-and-talk ‘Alley Chats,’ where residents found a familiar, steady voice and the reassurance that they were not alone. It was a quiet act of collective anti-gaslighting.
See also the “Future Hudson” project of which Spear was an integral part of ⬇️
Consider that before Spear’s campaign, Hudson politics sat in stasis. A faltering mayor faced no real challenge. Galvan’s moneyed grip went largely unchecked. The Kamal-Galvan lease and rent scandal was little known, or understood, and PILOT tax breaks were hard to follow and comprehend. Margaret Morris had not yet walloped Tom DePietro and exposed his hypocrisy and senseless politicization of Hudson’s City Hall with outside special interests. Most residents, aside from the elected and a handful of City Hall insiders, could scarcely name an appointed leader or root problem. The Mill Street public housing scheme, planned in a flood zone and deeply unpopular and unwise, was still being forced through the planning and zoning process as a Hail Mary for Mayor Kamal to run on an achievement, any achievement, even a rushed and unwise one. The latest Colarusso quagmire was not yet in focus. Trump had not yet been inaugurated and his policies and impact on New York State had not yet crystalized. Bard had not yet been provisionally gifted the Galvan portfolio. Cuomo, not Mamdani, was a safe bet for Mayor of New York City. The world, and Hudson, was very different.
So he launched “Neighbors,” an in-person and recorded interview series at Park Theatre that pushed questions back to the audience and ended in a simulated town hall style discussion. He brought fresh eyes to the physical geography of Hudson, parking in its parks on Sundays to meet residents, and to the digital public square, where ideas could be tested and contested. Few candidates in recent memory have been as visible. His campaign website is bright, avoids American political cliches and aesthetics, and, like the candidate, evolved with new content, videos, blogs, imagery. [1]
While many residents only saw his Instagram Alley Chats or the occasional commentary elsewhere, Spear showed care and planning by meeting early with council members and department heads to learn directly. That willingness to seek out institutional knowledge, and to begin cultivating relationships before the campaign heated up, was smart politics and signaled, rightfully, seriousness. Coalition-building starts with listening. The insights he gathered and the goodwill he fostered will continue to serve Hudson long after this campaign.
Several residents told us that, for all his flaws, Spear was the only serious candidate early on in the race truly out walking the streets talking shop. Not just about himself, but about ideas, beliefs, and the city’s future. Talking, of course, is also what ended his campaign. A seasoned politician might have mastered the art of saying little. As Burr’s advise to Hamilton in the Lin-Manuel Miranda Hamilton musical advises: ‘Talk less, smile more. Don’t let them know what you’re against or what you’re for.’ Yet Spear was the only candidate whose motives and direction were clear, even to those who disagreed with him. If Hamilton wrote his way out, Spear tried to Alley Chat his way in. He was the only one people saw daily on the streets, genuinely engaging with the city he hoped to lead.
https://youtu.be/LOUf8Z0RQic?feature=shared&t=61
Perhaps that is why Mayor Kamal developed a particular enmity toward him, later unleashing his mostly non-Hudson supporters against him with false accusations of racism. A right of passage for any ambitious Hudsonian in the time of Mayor Kamal and the Hudson Catskill Housing Coalition.
The best mayor for a city like Hudson must be both a clear, directed leader, and a “Champion-in-Chief” for all. A mayor who sits in the stands at Blue Hawks games, attends block parties, tours every neighborhood and its housing, runs the Hudson Mile, dances at Waterfront Wednesdays, attracts private investors, digs into the budget and dares to stick to it, makes daily rounds on Warren Street with business owners and employers, and can hold court with other prominent mayors rather than simply breeding dependency through grants.
That is how you learn what truly matters and how to drive change: with your finger on the pulse, your bicycle wheels on the pavement, occasional neighbor encounters on the Amtrak, and your conversations in the public parks. That is how you hear from the owners, voters, renters, students, retirees, dreamers, and builders. To capture that magic, you must show up. [2]
Spear was the personification of what a citizen should be, without political background, willing to stick his neck out for the right reasons. The shadow side of that bravery is what happened to him, and why so few dare to run or take a stand. Running as an independent mattered to Peter. In a country strangled by Democrats versus Republicans, Spear offered a third way, grounded in process, rather than tribal attacks. Politics punishes those who step forward, and his sensibility and courage deserve applause. One hopes he and Joe Ferris the pragmatist, and Lloyd Koedding, the third remaining mayoral candidate and bon vivant now sporting a red beret, find harmony together.
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The Private Costs of Public Duty
Peter Spear was brave to step into public life, knowing it could expose his family to public scrutiny. The burden on political families is heavy, especially in a town still obsessed with yesterday’s progressive dogma. Some candidates commit repeat ethics violations and then hide behind claims of being “bullied” to deflect lawful criticism, or worse, blame racism and “outsiders.” Spear was different. He had no conflicts of interest, did not self-enrich, and rarely used his family in politics or campaign photo-ops.
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Perhaps Spear’s biggest legacy is that he showed us a mayor can be community-oriented and visible. Kamal, the incumbent, is famously missing in action, often in Albany chasing regional headlines while Hudson’s streets crumble and its lighthouse is struck by boat hit-and-run. Older Hudsonians remarked that Spear’s visibility and care felt like a throwback to the Rick Rector years, when the mayor was a constant presence. Rector, like Spear, was smeared with baseless accusations.
But with a city changing so quickly, and a pandemic between then and now, Hudson seems to have forgotten what a small town mayor is supposed to do. Peter tried to remind us.
But Spear’s courage, ideas, Alley Chats, and visibility were not enough to build broad support or turn a civic leader into an elected officeholder. Like Ferris and Koedding, Spear leapt straight for the mayor’s office without first serving on the Common Council or other boards.
Hudson did not find all of Spear’s proposals relevant or compelling. The Citizen Assembly may appeal to theorists of deliberative democracy but it is unproven and ill-suited to a small town and Americans have soundly rejected the format. Our editors could not find a single resident who wanted to vote for Spear because of Citizen Assemblies, most wanted to vote for him in spite of it. His critique of broken public spaces and “outrageous” practices in City Hall, however, resonated. Participatory Budgeting, a cousin to his assembly idea, has been more successful across America and specifically in New York, giving ordinary people a say in how money is spent. More on that soon.
Spear showed courage in criticizing the incompetent and the conflicted. Perhaps that is where he resonated most. He called out Mayor Kamal’s entanglement with Galvan (ultimately leading to a **Times Union expose)** and highlighted a pattern where the mayor takes credit for everything and responsibility for nothing. He pressed for the resignation of Theresa Joyner, whose tenure as planning board chair has been a drag on the city. He did not shy from the bruising debates over charter reform, even with close friends and family. In Hudson’s climate of political correctness, he was willing to challenge political orthodoxy.
Peter’s thoughts on the Albany Times-Union article ⬇️
Some will call his campaign quixotic, or an ideas project. We call it brave. He loves Hudson enough to speak plainly when others remain quiet. In an age of partisan entrenchment and apathy, that is worth celebrating. A little more bravery would not hurt the rest of us.
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“Without elected office or mandate, Peter is in the role where he seems best suited, a civic entrepreneur shaping urban debate with ideas and provocations that command attention.”
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It turns out you can influence policy, honestly, and accelerate Hudson’s inclusive growth without securing grants or holding political office. He has already committed to continuing his Alley Chats, and immediately set out to draw attention to Theresa Joyner’s continued malfeasance before yet another Waterfront & Colarusso Planning Board meeting.
Peter on “on the performative legal nonsense of Colarusso and the lack of leadership shown by City Hall.” ⬇️
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Spear has, at least for now, spared Hudson the farce of running while not really running. His late withdrawal means his name lingers on the ballot, a bureaucratic lag that risks misleading voters. He should remove all doubt by stating plainly that he will not re-enter this cycle. Hudson has a long memory of candidates who toyed with the electorate by hopping in and out of races, more driven by vanity and attention than public service. Gary Purnhagen’s stunt in a past cycle remains a cautionary tale. Spear would do well to end the speculation and avoid joining that inglorious legacy. In turn the Board of Elections should explore deadlines closer to the election for the primaries and general.
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It would have been better if he had dropped out prior to the ballots heading to the printers, but this is Hudson and nothing is ever on time. We will certainly hear more from him as a neighbor on the themes he often returns to: closing Hudson’s planning gap, making the city more pedestrian-friendly, growing Hudson to 10,000 residents, and seizing the chance to be the best small town in America.
Spear has already exposed the Mayor Kamal’s tricks and prejudices, especially online and in Hudson dust-ups like a peculiar vandalism case that had old-timers reading the tea leaves. Ferris would do well to take Spear’s strengths in public engagement, passion, and fresh ideas, and combine them with his own pragmatism and competence, which Hudson badly needs.
His first was the controversial Open Streets initiative during Covid, when he worked to reimagine Hudson’s primary artery as a public space during a moment of crisis. We now look forward to his third. He might be known more recently for his Alley Chats, but year-round Hudsonians will think of him as the cardigan-clad dad with the quick smile and unhurried stride, walking to his favorite coffee shop on Warren Street in the morning.
Next time you see Peter Spear cycling around town like a European who did not get the memo that, for now, the streets belong to cars in America, think of safer streets, shared public spaces, and how his campaign helped Hudson move forward again, reminding the city that its future can indeed be different from its past.
Thank you, Peter.
OBSERVING PEDESTRIANS AT 3RD & WARREN IN HUDSON, NEW YORK