Steve Kimatian speaks to his supporters after losing election night. (Jonathan Snyder, courtesy of The Daily Orange)
Republican Steve Kimatian lost the Syracuse race for mayor to Democrat Stephanie Miner on Tuesday.
“We ran the race. We ran a very good race and though we did not win, we did a lot of things together and we made a lot of friends,” Kimatian said told supporters as he conceded defeat. “And we set a course that we thought was best for the city”
The defeat means Miner will be Syracuse’s first female mayor.
The other losing candidate in the three-person race was Otis Jennings, long time City Parks and recreation commissioner. Jennings was running on the Conservative Party ticket after losing the Republican nomination to Kimatian in the Sept. 15 primary.
With 100 percent of the polls reporting, Miner unofficially won the race with 50.1 percent or 11,253 votes. Kimatian had 39 percent, or 8,817, votes. And Jennings had 10 percent or 2,314 votes.
In Syracuse, Kimatian, 68, is best known for his career as a TV executive, lawyer and philanthropist. He hosted a TV show on WSYR, NewsChannel 9, “With Steve on Sunday.” He worked as general counsel to Newport Television, owners of WSYR-TV, until he announced his candidacy for mayor in May 2009.
In pursuing the mayor’s office, Kimatian lent $150,000 to his own campaign. As of Election Day, he had not said whether he would return to work for Newport Television.
Kimatian is a Syracuse political novice. His only other brush with politics was a 1980 run for a seat in the Maryland State Legislature.
As the votes came in against him Tuesday night, he thanked a teary crowd of supporters, calling the race a “special time” that he will “always remember.”
“Just because this race didn’t work out , we’ll find other ways — because all of us believe in our city,” Kimatian said. “All of us believe we can have one of the great cities in America and I know all of us will continue doing what we’ve done.”
The political math was stacked against Kimatian. In Syracuse, Democrats outnumber Republicans 3-1, according to the Onondaga County Board of Elections. Kimatian was also trailing in the money. As of October 23, he had raised only $84, 334 compared to Miner’s $546,118 according to campaign finance reports filed with the New York State Board of Elections.
At the polls on Tuesday, some voters touted Miner’s Say Yes to education program and leadership in Common Council as reasons she’d make a good mayor.
Maggie Dambrosio of East Syracuse works as a union steward for AT&T. She voted for Miner, she said, because she’s a pro-union candidate who shares her same Democratic values.
“I don’t know much about Kimatian. I don’t think he’s ready,” Dambrosio said. “Miner would be good for the city, she’s the working family party candidate which I like and it’d be great to see a woman in there.”
Other voters also voiced skepticism over Kimatian’s political inexperience.
At the Eastwood Community Center polling station, Jean Reilly recalled her choice came to at the last-minute. Reilly works at the Syracuse Model Neighbors for Community Health, a local family planning clinic. She decided Tuesday morning who to vote for and in the end, she said, the decision came down to a gut feeling and a lack of information on Kimatian.
“I just don’t know him well enough,” she said. She appreciated Miner’s “passion” and thinks she has what it takes to improve the city, Reilly said.”I do think she understand the plight of the people in our communities and I think she can tackle poverty and lack of jobs,” Reilly said.
At the Beauchamp Library polling station, Fred Marty, 33, of the Comstock area, said he had the most common beliefs with Miner and he liked what she offered personally. “She’s young, motivated, smart and energetic. The problem with Kimatian—he is 68 years old, not from here,” Marty said. “He’s also probably a little too conservative for my taste,” Marty said.
Kimatian ran a heavily grassroots campaign. He estimates he knocked on more than 2,500 doors in what he terms the “street race for mayor.” He got many of his campaign platforms from those talks.
Election Night at Kimatian’s headquarters on Midler Avenue, the once-packed crowd started to clear out as TV stations declared Miner the winner at 10:40 p.m. The campaign volunteers and supporters who remained slowly sipped Bud Lights and nibbled on pieces of chicken wings, saying their goodbyes before shuffling out.
“This is really not a sad occasion,” Kimatian said, “I’m so grateful to all of these people who helped me along the way.”
As a gesture of his appreciation, Kimatian promised in his concession speech that before he left his headquarters he wanted to shake the hand of every person in the room.
And he did.
(Julia Terruso is a junior majoring in newspaper journalism.)
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