Choices are uncertain for voters in Common Council District 3 for the November 2011 election.
The incumbent, Ryan McMahon, R-Syracuse, is unsure whether he’ll seek re-election for a fourth term. Instead, he said, he may run for a seat in the Onondaga County Legislature.
“It’s going to be a tough decision,” said McMahon. “My goal is to serve my neighborhood and my community and this is a decision I will have to struggle through.”
As of March 26, no challenger had stepped forward to oppose McMahon for the District 3 Common Council seat. The Democratic and Republican parties will officially designate their candidates later in the spring. The general election is Nov. 8.
The Syracuse Common Council is the legislative branch of city government. It makes city laws and approves the budget. The Council consists of a president and nine members. The president and four of the members are elected at-large or city-wide for a term of four years. The other five members are district councilors, elected within each of the five Syracuse Common Council districts, and serve a two-year term. All positions are up for election this year.
The Democrats hold the majority of the Common Council with eight seats. Republicans have two, Matthew Rayo and McMahon.
District 3 is the southern part of the city and includes the North and South Valley, Strathmore, Outer Comstock, Skytop, and Elmwood neighborhoods. The district has 16,768 registered voters. The Republican Party has 5,974 voters and the Democratic Party has 5,159 while 820 voters are registered as the Independence Party and 4,329 voters are not affiliated with a party.
If McMahon decides to run for the county legislature, he could benefit from a proposed re-districting, say some political experts. The county now has 19 seats and the legislature proposes to cut two. The re-drawn county district would lack an incumbent. That and its likely location could help McMahon, predicted Ed Ryan, the county’s Democratic election commissioner. The county district could be redrawn to look very similar to McMahon’s current district, said Ryan, giving him an easier chance to win.
McMahon says he already has a head start against any opponents because he is already working on projects and can continue with that momentum as county legislator. It would give him an opportunity to have the legislative approach more globally and unify the city, he said.
“I want to help bridge the gap between city and suburban, us vs. them,” said McMahon.
He will make up his mind if he will make the switch and run for county legislator or continue with common councilor for the final term by late April, said McMahon.
(Melanie Kendall is a senior with dual majors in broadcast digital journalism and political science.)
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