'We think the Secret Service component coming is pretty cool, so people are talking about that, and we're excited to see what he has to say,' said Fischer. 'At first when I heard about it, I thought it was an April Fool's joke,' said 10th grade class president Mitchell Fischer.īut because both the Republican and Democratic primary races are so close leading up to New York's contest, it's no joke. That up-close look at a presidential candidate is rare in New York. 'Our history teachers, political science teachers, are excited off the charts to be able to take their class into a town hall in a campaign year like this, and really get first-hand experience the American political system,' Bowman said. He's been talking logistics with police officers, checking the maximum-capacity signs and taking in his school's chance to be a part of the process to pick the next president. 'The phones have been ringing literally non-stop since mid-morning,' Bowman said Tuesday afternoon. Bowman still doesn't know why the Cruz campaign chose his 300-student K-12 school, but he's rolling with it.

Rather than a rally, Cruz plans on holding a town hall-style meeting in the Mekeel gym. 'We feel happy we're excited, we're certainly honored,' said Head of School Chad Bowman. New York's primary is on April 19 and will be critical in deciding who receives the nominations.

The news comes a day after Democratic candidate HIllary Clinton visted Cohoes for a campaign rally.

Senator Ted Cruz will be in Scotia Thursday morning, when he will host a town hall event at Mekeel Christian Academy. Another presidential candidate is headed to the Capital Region ahead of the state's primary in two weeks.

Hood River Zero by K. Webster