(Courtesy of Lance Denno)
Democrat Lance Denno is one of the winners in the Syracuse Common Councilor At-Large race.
“I’m very optimistic,” Denno said at a Democratic Party celebration at the University Sheraton Tuesday night. “I really see this as a referendum on what I’ve done.”
Denno and the second winner, Jean Kessner, beat out Republican Fanny Villarreal to take the two open At-Large positions.
With 100 percent of the vote counted, Denno received 32 percent or 10,322 votes, while Kessner finished with 43.5 percent and 13,639 votes, according to unofficial results from the Onondaga County Board of Elections. Villarreal posted 24.3 percent or 7,615 votes.
Denno had served as the District 5 Common Councilor for the past two years. Both he and Kessner ran as Democratic and Working FamiliesParty candidates. Villarreal had been the Republican and Conservative party candidate.
Kessner is the community and government affairs director of AIDS Community Resources. Villarreal who was the director of P.E.A.C.E., Inc., until May 2009 when she resigned to run for Councilor At-large.
Denno won the seat despite running a low-profile campaign. He raised just $825 in campaign contributions, according to financial disclosure reports on the Web site of the New York State Board of Elections. Kessner brought in $8,256 for her race. Villarreal outraised both Democrats, posting $12,660, according to the financial disclosure reports.
For the At-Large seat, Denno had said he was relying on his record as District 5 Common Councilor, he said, rather than fundraising. After the election results came in, he said, “I’m pleased to see the race wasn’t won by a campaign that put a lot of money into the councilor race.”
Denno and Kessner’s victory is not unexpected in a city where Democrats outnumber Repubilcans 3 to 1, according to the Onondaga Board of Elections.
At the polls on Tuesday, many voters said they voted strictly on the party lines.
Helen Caban, 81, is a former General Electric employee. She says she always votes Democrat in election. “I’m a Democrat, because I’m in the working class, and Democrats were always for the working class,” she said.
John Duffy, a Democrat who lives near Westcott Street, always turns out for an election. “If you don’t vote, you can’t complain,” he said. He also usually votes by the party lines. “I’d like someone who can help influence the city that is the same party as me.”
For Denno, his plans for the immediate future is simple. Wednesday morning, he said, he will make sure his kids get off to school.
But Tuesday night, he said, he was already thinking about the city’s money problems. “It’s not too early,” said Denno, “to start talking about what we are going to do to solve the financial problems and start looking at them.”
(Abram Brown is a junior history and magazine journalism major.)
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