Indian-born Democrat Lisa Kaul has defeated Republican incumbent Rob Rolison in New York’s 39th State Senate District, winning 55.2 percent of the vote in the midterm elections. Kaul received 62,883 votes against Rolison’s 51,009, according to reported election results, securing a margin of 11,874 votes.
Rolison received 44.8 percent of the vote. The result ended his tenure representing the Hudson Valley district, which includes parts of Dutchess, Orange and Putnam counties. Kaul’s victory flipped the Republican-held seat to the Democrats.
Kaul’s victory came after she defeated two other candidates in the Democratic primary in June, receiving 62 percent of the vote. She had entered the general election against Rolison, who had held the Senate seat since 2022 and was seeking a third term.
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The November result was also a reversal of the previous two election cycles in the district. Rolison won the seat in 2022 and retained it in 2024, when he defeated Democratic candidate Yvette Valdés Smith. The 2024 contest was considerably closer, with Rolison receiving 50.7 percent against Valdés Smith’s 49.3 percent, according to Ballotpedia.
From India to the Hudson Valley
Kaul grew up in India in a family where her mother was a teacher and her father served as a career army officer. In her campaign biography, she described growing up with limited financial resources and said reliable electricity and clean drinking water were not always available.
She has credited her childhood experiences with shaping her understanding of public infrastructure, healthcare, education and the importance of public services.
After completing her undergraduate education in India, Kaul received a Rhodes Scholarship to pursue doctoral studies at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. She earned a PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology from Oxford. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from the University of Delhi. Kaul met her husband in England. The couple moved to the United States in 2004 to be closer to his aging father and settled in Poughkeepsie, New York, where they raised their son. She became a US citizen in 2008.
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Her journey from India to American public life has included education, community organizing, environmental advocacy and local government.
Political journey: School board to county legislature
Kaul’s involvement in American public affairs began at the local level. She served on the Arlington Central School District Board of Education from 2011 to 2013 and became involved in efforts to prevent the closure of a local elementary school. She also organized the Poughkeepsie Women’s March Across the Hudson and established the Poughkeepsie Repair Café, a community initiative where residents help repair household items instead of discarding them.
Her professional career included serving as director of the Office of Community-Engaged Learning at Vassar College. In that role, she developed programs connecting the college with local organizations and supporting community engagement and first-generation students. She also participated in several local organizations, including the Dutchess-Orange United Way and the Poughkeepsie Children’s Cabinet.
Kaul entered electoral politics in 2023, running for the Dutchess County Legislature’s District 6 seat, representing the Town of Poughkeepsie. She defeated a Republican incumbent with approximately 58 percent of the vote, flipping a Republican-held seat.
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Her campaign said the victory made her the first Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) legislator to serve in the Dutchess County Legislature. She ran unopposed in 2025 and continued representing District 6.
As a county legislator, Kaul chaired the Environment Committee and served as vice-chair of the Family and Human Services Committee. She also worked on environmental management, public works, public health and climate-related initiatives.
One of her notable accomplishments was securing bipartisan support and funding for a new waste-management strategy after a decade-long partisan impasse. She also supported legislation requiring restaurants to provide plastic cutlery, napkins and condiments only upon request, an initiative known as “Skip the Stuff.”
Defeating a two-term incumbent
Kaul’s opponent, Rob Rolison, had a long background in local government and law enforcement before entering the New York State Senate. A former Town of Poughkeepsie police officer and detective, Rolison served as mayor of Poughkeepsie from 2016 to 2022. He was elected to the state Senate in 2022 and retained the District 39 seat in 2024.
During the 2026 campaign, Rolison emphasized public safety and reducing utility costs. He advocated removing taxes, tariffs and surcharges from utility bills, arguing that these charges accounted for approximately 30 percent of residents’ bills.
Kaul, meanwhile, campaigned on affordability, affordable housing, healthcare access, public transportation, environmental protection and reproductive rights. She argued that the cost-of-living crisis and climate challenges were interconnected.
The two candidates offered different approaches to public services and household expenses in a district covering communities including Poughkeepsie, Beacon and Newburgh.
What her victory means for New York politics
Kaul’s victory was part of a broader Democratic gain in the New York State Senate during the 2026 midterm elections. Democrats defeated several Republican incumbents in Hudson Valley contests, including Rolison and Bill Weber, contributing to the party’s expanded majority in the chamber.
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The Times Union reported that the Democratic victories helped the party secure a state Senate supermajority. For the Indian American community, Kaul’s election adds another immigrant-background lawmaker to the growing presence of Asian Americans in American state politics. Her journey is particularly notable for its progression from an Indian university graduate and Rhodes Scholar to a community organizer, county legislator and now a New York state senator.
Her experience in environmental policy, education and local government is expected to inform her work in Albany, where she will represent the Hudson Valley’s 39th District.