(from http://mcmahonforlegislature.com)
As Ryan McMahon paints his political portrait, politics and community are the same.
“It’s a piece of who we are,” as McMahon puts it. “It’s our heritage.”
Ryan McMahon, 31, is serving his third term on the Common Council from District 3, one of only two Republicans on the council. He’s also running for the Onondaga County Legislature for District 15. In that race, he faces Democrat Mark English, a family-practice lawyer. County District 15 is in the center of Onondaga County, including the southwestern corner of Geddes, Solvay and a small southern portion of the city of Syracuse.
McMahon pitches himself as someone who puts emphasis on strong family values and stresses the need for lower taxes more personal responsibility and less government.
He is a native of Syracuse, something he says he is very proud of. He graduated from Bishop Ludden High School and from LeMoyne College, majoring in political science and business administration. McMahon is self-employed as a vice president of a mortgage bank, The Funding Source. He credits his upbringing as a blessing and credits his family as his ultimate drive for his ambition.
“I grew up in the Strathmore neighborhood, the same place where my wife and I are raising our kids,” McMahon said. “I want my kids to have the same experience I did. I want to maintain the quality of life I had when I was a child.”
For his interest in politics, McMahon credits an internship he had in his junior year of college at the state assembly in Albany. There he saw the power elected officials had to help constituents, he said, and help change a “broken system” of government.
“I think that’s when I figured out where I wanted to actually get involved and try and run for office,” McMahon said. “I felt that some of the people there are career politicians who get elected and continue to become involved in a broken system and it made me think that I may be able to do better at some point.”
McMahon first ran for the Common Council in 2003, when he was only 22 years old. He lost by almost 100 votes. In 2005, he won, becoming then the youngest person on the council.
With another Republican — Matt Rayo of District 1 — on the Common Council, McMahon is the minority leader for the GOP. And he gets credit from some Democratic members for working on some projects in a bipartisan spirit. For example, Pamela Hunter, a Democratic at-large councilor, praised him for co-sponsoring a revised budget with her.
“We saw the common ground and what we thought was responsible based on real numbers and revenue per expenses,” Hunter said. “This shows his willingness to cooperate in order to get to what’s reasonable and right for the city of Syracuse.”
McMahon says that he’s been in community service from childhood. He is a former junior varsity basketball coach at Most Holy Rosary church’s Catholic Youth Organization. He’s on the board of the Interreligious Food Consortium.
The consortium’s executive director, Michele Jordan, describes McMahon as a friend and praises his commitment to the community. “He really cares about what goes on in our city and our county,” Jordan said. “As someone who grew up in the city it means a lot that he would want to stay here and help make this city better for everyone.”
His children, McMahon said, are his inspiration now. He’s the father of a three-year-old and a one-year-old.
“When you have kids everything becomes a little more real. There’s a little person that is completely reliant on you and your decision-making,” McMahon said. “For me, everything I preach, I put into practice because of them.”
(Stephanie Narvaez is a senior with dual majors in broadcast and digital journalism and international relations.)
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