In a squeaker, Democratic Party candidate Lorene Dadey trails slightly in the District 7 race for the Onondaga County Legislature against Republican Danny Liedka.
“I am not happy,” said Dadey in an phone interview as the unofficial tally showed her 123 votes behind Liedka. She did not attend the Democratic Committee’s party on Tuesday night.
As of 11:18 p.m., with all 30 precincts reporting, Dadey unofficially had 49 percent — or 2,248 votes. Liedka had 51 percent — or 2,381 votes — according to the Onondaga County Board of Elections. Dadey is a former mayor of East Syracuse and Liedka is the current mayor.
District 7 is in the central region of Onondaga County, including a small northeastern part of the city of Syracuse, most of the northern and western parts of DeWitt and all of East Syracuse. Voter registration in the district is 39 percent Democratic, 27 percent Republican, and 24 percent not affiliated with a party.
At the polls on Tuesday, some voters praised Dadey’s time spent serving as mayor, but acknowledged Liedka’s successes as well.
“She was our mayor before,” said Carol Houde, an East Syracuse resident, as she voted at the village hall polling place. “We’ve experienced her when she was the mayor and we know what she is capable of. And we know Danny. He’s been a good mayor. So we’ll make our decisions from there.”
At the Democratic Committee’s party on Tuesday night, Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner praised Dadey for making a good run for the district seat. “Lorene is a great candidate,” Miner said. “She’s had a great campaign.”
Low voter turnout may have contributed to the closeness of the race, officials from the Democratic Committee said. “I think the low voter turnout makes the race much closer,” Vita DeMarchi, the chairwoman for the Democratic Party. “Lorene has run an incredible campaign. Myself and the party are very proud of her.”
Going in to the election on Tuesday, Dadey had raised more than $4,500 between May and October, according to the New York State Board of Elections. That is only about one-third of her opponent’s fundraising. Liedka raised over $15,000, according to the New York State Board of Elections.
This was Dadey’s first run for a county legislature seat. In 2003, Dadey became the first woman elected as East Syracuse’s mayor. Her political resume includes East Syracuse village trustee, ten years on the Syracuse Zoning Board of Appeals, DeWitt town board member, East Syracuse police commissioner and deputy mayor.
In this election, she was endorsed by the Democratic Party as its candidate, though she is registered as a voter unaffiliated with any party. She also had the endorsement of the Working Families Parties.
In her campaign, Dadey pitched her business experience as well as her political background. Since 1979, she has been a co-owner of the Sunshine Coffee Shop in East Syracuse.
At the Democratic Committee’s party, a red, white and blue balloon tower stood in the center of Pensabene’s Casa Grande restaurant in Syracuse. A donkey piñata stood at its base, welcoming the nearly 150 people who gathered together to watch the results.
Dadey, who did not attend the party, emphasized that she will wait until results are official before deciding what she will do next. “I don’t know what is going to happen,” Dadey said. “I thought we both ran great campaigns.”
(Emily Maher is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism and political science.) This story has been updated with the latest unofficial vote counts and to correct an editing error that said Dadey was at the Democratic Party’s gathering. She was not.
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