Chele Chiavacci Farley

Chele Chiavacci Farley

Republican

BACKGROUND: Farley, 51, of Manhattan, also is running on the Conservative and Reform party lines. She graduated from Stanford University, where she majored in industrial engineering, and then worked for nearly three decades in financial services at the firms UBS Capital, Goldman Sachs and Mistral Capital International. She additionally served as the New York State Republican Party's New York City finance chair. Farley, a first-time candidate, is married with three children.

ISSUES: Farley has criticized her opponent, incumbent Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat,  as an ineffective, out-of-touch lawmaker whose zeal for the national spotlight and ambitions for higher office have hurt her constituents. “She’s not seeing day-to-day, the potholes, the subway, the MTA, she’s not having to deal with this on a regular basis,” Farley told Newsday. “We need somebody who’s going to put New York first," she added in a nod to her campaign slogan. Farley said New York State needs Republicans at the table in Washington. She has touted herself as a negotiator. She said she would fight for the state’s “fair share of federal funding,” because Washington takes $48 billion more from state taxpayers than New Yorkers get in return from the federal government. She also seeks to increase the cap on deductions for state and local taxes that was part of the GOP’s sweeping tax code overhaul. Farley’s platform includes a strong defense of Israel. She supports President Donald Trump's moving of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. She backs Trump’s withdrawal of the United States from the Iran nuclear deal and his opening a dialogue with North Korea, hoping to quell its nuclear aspirations. Farley, who is critical of career politicians, said she supports term limits and has pledged to serve only two terms, if elected.