Matt Alexander (Photo: Facebook)

Successive press releases late last night announced the Dutchess County Democratic Party's endorsement of Julian Schreibman as their candidate against Congressman Chris Gibson, Justin Wagner against State Senator Greg Ball, and Matt Alexander against Congresswoman Nan Hayworth. However, it is Mr. Alexander who is facing the most competitive race of the three and whose endorsement stands out.

Mr. Alexander, the mayor of Wappingers Falls, dropped some Occupy Wall Street-esque rhetoric in his statement touting the backing.

"I am in this race to fight for the 99%, and that is a particularly important agenda for the folks living in the cities, towns and villages of our new district, each of which face unique challenges," he said. "We need a new urban agenda for economic development in the Hudson Valley's cities, and we need a new representative in Washington to deliver it."

According to release, the final breakdown between the candidates in the weighted vote was:

Matt Alexander: 8,739.0 (90.0%)
Sean P. Maloney: 528.0 (5.4%)
Rich Becker: 309.5 (3.2%)
Duane Jackson: 80.5 (1%)
Tom Wilson: 45.5 (<1%)

(The statement said union activist Anne Jacobs Moultrie had dropped out).

Dutchess County is split between two Congressional Districts under the new restricting plan but has a substantial presence in Ms. Hayworth's new seat. Orange County, the largest in the district, previously saw its Democratic Party endorse Mr. Becker.

The City of Poughkeepsie's Democratic Committee also got behind Mr. Alexander for the June 26th primary last night.

Senator Greg Ball down on the farm. (Photo: NYSenate.gov)

In a web video released last week, Senator Greg Ball takes a walk on on his farm, feeding the pigs and nursing a calf by hand accompanied by rocking '80's style electric guitars. Senator Ball's video is designed to promote him as a defender of family farms. "We're losing our family farms," Senator Ball said in the ad. "We got to stop that, we've got to fix it."

After an approximately two minute tour of his farm, Senator Ball, a Republican who represents the 40th District in Westchester and Dutchess Counties, explains the consequences of commercial farming while brushing his hogs.

"People that eat bacon, eating tomatoes, you know ham, or hamburger, you don't know where your food's coming from. It could come from Mexico, it could come from a factory farm in idaho. The animals are raised inhumanely, they don't have a good life. The farmer sure as hell isn't in the pen scratching his hogs," Senator Ball said. "In fact, it's not even a farmer, it's just toally commercialized, it's owned by a handful of companies--multinational corporations. All they care about is cheap food and the bottom line, they dont care about the lifestyle of the animal."

Senator Ball also warns that commercial farms don't feed animals quality vegetables like the one's he's shown serving up in the video.

"They're pumping them full of hormones and steroids, they're not giving them tomatoes, they're not giving them cabbage. They're giving them steroids, and hormones, and you know, commercial food. That's the problem with the industrialization of our farms," Senator Ball said.

Senator Ball's video ends with a title card featuring a powerful new slogan: "Ball--Gettin' it done." Watch the clip below.