--- title: Diamond, a Dog, Enters Mayoral Race in Upstate New York description: The 13-year-old pooch is running as "Schenectady's best friend." canonical: https://time.com/3945322/dog-mayor-new-york/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-02T22:24:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:21.718Z og:title: Meet Diamond, the Dog Running for Mayor in Upstate New York og:description: The 13-year-old pooch is running as "Schenectady's best friend" og:url: https://time.com/3945322/dog-mayor-new-york/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Meet Diamond, the Dog Running for Mayor in Upstate New York twitter:description: The 13-year-old pooch is running as "Schenectady's best friend" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # A Dog Is Running for Mayor in Upstate New York ## Video: Inside the Canine Mind [Watch (HLS stream): Inside the Canine Mind](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dTemQHb7.m3u8) (2:08)  _Published 2009-09-11. Professor Brian Hare at Duke University studies people's pet dogs to understand how canines think_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jul 2, 2015 10:24 PM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jul 2, 2015 10:24 PM UTC The latest candidate to enter the race for mayor in Schenectady, N.Y. doesn’t just have a leg up on her competition—she has two. Diamond, a 13-year-old dog, is running as a write-in candidate in the city’s race. And according to the [_Daily Gazette_](http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2015/jul/01/canine-mayoral-candidate-faces-ruff-campaign/), she’s running as “Schenectady’s best friend.” > [](https://twitter.com/HRViccaro/status/616569374992953344) Diamond’s entrance into the race for mayor—which features three human candidates, Mayor Gary McCarthy, Roger Hull and Chris Gibbs—isn’t the first time a four-legged friend of the upstate town has made a foray into local politics. In 2007, Sparky the cat ran for mayor, followed by Roger the cat in 2011\. In 1999, the [_Gazette_ ](http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2015/jul/01/canine-mayoral-candidate-faces-ruff-campaign/)reports, Loffredo the dog entered a mayoral race. No furry candidate, of course, has actually won, but McCarthy and Hull told the paper they welcome the competition. “I assume our paths will cross in the campaign,” McCarthy said of Diamond. \[[The Daily Gazette](http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2015/jul/01/canine-mayoral-candidate-faces-ruff-campaign/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3945322/dog-mayor-new-york/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3945322/dog-mayor-new-york/"},"headline":"A Dog Is Running for Mayor in Upstate New York","datePublished":"2015-07-02T22:24:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:21.718Z","description":"The 13-year-old pooch is running as \"Schenectady's best friend\"","url":"https://time.com/3945322/dog-mayor-new-york/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","politics","Dog"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3945322/dog-mayor-new-york/","name":"A Dog Is Running for Mayor in Upstate New York"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Inside the Canine Mind","description":"Professor Brian Hare at Duke University studies people's pet dogs to understand how canines think","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/dTemQHb7/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2009-09-11T01:23:04.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dTemQHb7.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3945322/dog-mayor-new-york/","duration":"PT2M8S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3945322/dog-mayor-new-york/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```