With all 17 seats in the newly redistricted Onondaga County Legislature on the ballot, voters will have a buffet of choices in the November election.
Republicans remain in control of the legislature, with 11 seats to the Democrats’ six. But voter enrollment county-wide is changing.
“The county is steadily moving more Democrats. It was Republican for decades,” said Syracuse University political science professor Jeffery Stonecash. “The local party is dying.”
Overall, Onondaga County today is 36 percent Democrat to 31 percent Republican, a 180-degree turnaround from 2000. Then 36 percent of voters were Republicans and 31 percent were Democratic.
The election is Nov. 8.
Here are snapshots of the districts and the candidates:
District 1
Republican Brian May of Lysander makes his first run for the county legislature. He also has the endorsement of the Conservative Party. He is unopposed for the seat left open by incumbent Richard Lesniak, R-Lysander, who opted to not run for reelection this year. May advocates for smaller government through lower taxes and private-sector job growth.
District 1 is in the northwestern part of Onondaga County, including all of Lysander, a portion of Baldwinsville and the southwestern portion of Clay. Its voter enrollment is 40 percent Republican, 28 percent Democrat, 24 percent unaffiliated, 4 percent Independence Party and 1 percent Conservative Party.
District 2
Republican incumbent John Dougherty is also endorsed by the Independence and Conservative parties. He first ran for the legislature in 2009 and is unopposed. Dougherty served on the Public Safety, County Facilities, and Planning and Economic Development committees during his first two years as a legislature.
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