Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin kicks off his campaign for a third term on Jan. 23 at TurnKey Office Solutions in North Greenbush.

Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin kicks off his campaign for a third term on Jan. 23, during an event at TurnKey Office Solutions in North Greenbush.

Here’s a news industry tip: When a headline is formed as a question, the answer is almost always no. This column won’t provide an exception.

For the sake of suspense, I suppose I shouldn’t have admitted that quite so quickly. But let’s be honest: Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin, who just announced his reelection bid, has little to fear. Barring an unexpected political earthquake, he is exceptionally likely to win.

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Consider that in his last race four years ago, McLaughlin won by nearly 30 percentage points against Democrat Gwen Wright. Granted, she was and remains relatively unknown. Few expected Wright to topple to the gray-haired fellow in the executive’s office.

But let’s give McLaughlin’s win some context.

He governs in perhaps the most politically competitive county in our neighborhood. Kamala Harris won Rensselaer County. So did Joe Biden and Barack Obama. The county’s district attorney is a Democrat. The sheriff is a Republican but won narrowly.

It is not, therefore, a place where you........

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