Early life, education, early career, and family life
Jim Tedisco graduated from Bishop Gibbons High School in 1968,, dodged Vietnam, and received his B.A. in Psychology from Union College. While at Union, he played varsity basketball for three years where he set 15 scoring and assist records, and left as Union's all-time leading scorer with 1,632 points. Tedisco earned multiple athletic awards during his college career, and was inducted into the Union Athletics Hall of Fame in 2002. In 1997, he was given the Silver Anniversary Award from the NCAA. Tedisco went on to get a graduate degree in Special Education from the College of Saint Rose. From 1973 to 1982, Tedisco worked in education; he served as a guidance counselor, basketball coach, and athletic director at Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons High School in Schenectady, and later worked as a special education teacher, resource room instructor and varsity basketball coach at Bethlehem Central High School in Delmar, New York. Tedisco entered public service in 1977 when, at the age of 27, he was elected to the Schenectady City Council. Tedisco is a resident of Glenville, New York, where he lives with his wife and stepson.
In 1982, Assemblyman Clark Wemple retired from the State Assembly, leaving an opening in the district. Tedisco won a four-way race in Republican primary, and then won the general election. Due to redistricting, Tedisco represented the 107th District from 1983 to 1993, the 103rd District from 1993 to 2003, the 110th District from 2003 to 2012, and most recently represented the 112th District since from 2012 to 2017. The 112th District consists of portions of Schenectady County and Saratoga County, including the towns of Greenfield, Providence, Milton, Galway, Ballston, Charlton, Clifton Park, Halfmoon, and Glenville. Tedisco ran uncontested in the 2008 general election and won the 2010 general election with 64 percent of the vote.
Tenure
Tedisco introduced "Charlotte's Law" to permanently terminate driver's license privileges for serial drunk and dangerous drivers. While Tedisco's bill was not passed, the similar to what was proposed in the bill. In 1999, Tedisco worked to pass Buster's Law, which protected pets by making animal cruelty a felony, and in 2011 advocated for the first-ever New York State Animal Advocacy Day. In 2014, Tedisco sponsored a constitutional amendment, Proposition 2, that would make the legislature more efficient by replacing bill printouts with digital copies of bills.
Assembly Minority Leader
Tedisco served as Assembly Minority Leader from November 2005 to April 2009. According to The New York Times, Tedisco "clashed loudly and publicly" with Democratic Governor Eliot Spitzer. In January 2007, Spitzer reportedly told Tedisco, "'I am a fucking steamroller and I’ll roll over you or anybody else'". Tedisco was noted for his opposition to Spitzer's September 2007 executive order directing that state offices allow undocumented immigrants to be issued driver's licenses. Tedisco threatened a lawsuit if the plan was implemented. On November 14, 2007, Spitzer announced he would withdraw the driver license plan, acknowledging that it would never be implemented. Tedisco later accused Spitzer of cutting $300,000 of state funding for health care and education grants in the Schenectady area as retaliation for Tedisco's opposition to the Spitzer driver license plan. Tedisco accused the Governor of "dirty tricks" and "bullying". Following reports of Spitzer's involvement in a prostitution scandal, Tedisco called for his resignation and announced that he would initiate impeachment proceedings in the State Assembly if Spitzer did not resign. Spitzer resigned his post effective March 17, 2008. Tedisco stepped down as Minority Leader in April 2009 amid reports that other Republican Members of the Assembly were concerned about his congressional campaign distracting him from his leadership role.
2009 special congressional election
On January 23, 2009, after Governor David Paterson announced that he had selected Representative Kirsten Gillibrand to fill the United States Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton, Tedisco stated his intention to run for Congress to replace Gillibrand in New York's 20th Congressional District. Though not a resident of the district, Tedisco became its Republican nominee on January 27, 2009, and ran against Democrat Scott Murphy. The initial count from the election had Murphy leading by 59 votes, out of over 155,000 cast on March 31, 2009. This tally reportedly did not include any of the 10,000 requested absentee ballots, which needed only to have been postmarked by that date and could have been returned as late as April 7 or April 13. Eventually, about 7,000 absentee ballots were received; the vote count as of April 24 had Murphy ahead by 399 votes. On April 24, Tedisco conceded the election to Murphy.
New York State Senate
In 2016, Senator Hugh Farley announced that he would not seek re-election to the Senate. Farley's retirement left an opening in the 49th State Senate District. After Tedisco handily won the Republican primary, he went on to defeat General Election opponent Chad Putman.Tedisco won the election with 69% of the vote on November 8, 2016. In 2018, Tedisco easily won reelection.
Positions
Abortion
Tedisco opposes abortion and only supports it in cases of rape, incest, or if a woman's life is in danger. In 2018, the Albany Times Union endorsed Tedisco for re-election to the State Senate. The Times Union stated that Tedisco had informed the paper's editorial board that he would support a proposed abortion rights bill known as the Reproductive Health Act. After Tedisco publicly contradicted this assertion and affirmed his opposition to the bill, the Times Union rescinded its endorsement. Tedisco voted against the Reproductive Health Act in January 2019.
Second Amendment
Tedisco holds a broad interpretation of the Second Amendment. He voted against the NY SAFE Act, a gun control measure that became law in 2013. He voted against a bill that prohibits individuals convicted of domestic abuse from purchasing guns. He also believes that a safety or childproof mechanism does not need to be incorporated into the design of firearms.
Labor and employment
Tedisco has voted against paid family leave, equal pay regardless of gender, freelance wage protection, and the Wage Theft Prevention Act. He also repeatedly voted against an increase in the minimum wage.
LGBTQ
Tedisco repeatedly voted against bills to legalize same-sex marriage. He also voted against bills to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. On June 16, 2014, Tedisco voted against a bill that would have prohibited sexual orientation conversion therapy on minors.
