(Billy Holbert)
With a comfortable lead, Democrat Sam Roberts has won the 119th Assembly District seat.
“It’s not about me, It’s about us.” said Roberts told a crowd in the Holiday Inn in Liverpool where Democrats gathered for Election Night. “We are going to Albany, we are going to roll up our sleeves and we are going to go to work.”
As of 11:18 p.m. Tuesday, with nearly 100 percent of the vote counted, Roberts was the unofficial winner with 18,626 or 54 percent of the vote, according to the Onondaga County Board of Elections. Republican John Sharon, a newcomer to politics, had 11,010 votes; the Conservative Party’s Christina Fadden Fitch, who ran as a Republican and lost in the same race two years ago, had 3,454 votes; and The Green Party’s Michael Donnelly, a DeWitt attorney, had 1,160 votes.
Roberts will take over the seat from fellow Democrat Joan Christensen, D-Syracuse, who is retiring after two decades representing the District. The 119th District includes the towns of Salina, DeWitt, Onondaga, parts of Syracuse and the Onondaga Nation reserve.
Throughout the night, supporters slowly trickled into the Holiday Inn convention center adorned with red, white and blue balloons and banners. The musical playlist kicked off with “I Gotta Feeling,” by The Black Eyed Peas.
At 10:30 p.m., groups began to gather around the two projection screens in the convention room, displaying the YNN-TV election results. Cheers rang out at 11:08 p.m. as the station reported Roberts had a 54 percent lead with 94 percent of the votes counted.
As a former member of the Onondaga County Legislature, Roberts was the only candidate in the race with legislative experience. He represented the 19th county Legislative District between 1990 and 2000.
Voter enrollment heavily favored Roberts’ campaign. Of the 77,938 enrolled voters in the 119th District, 46 percent are registered with the Democratic Party, compared to 27 percent with the GOP.
At the polls on Tuesday, some voters predicted Robert’s success would be based on the Democratic Party’s support.
At the Erwin First United Methodist Church polling place, Kathleen Waters, 54, pastor of Picture Hill Community Church in North Syracuse, said her strong support of the Democratic Party would be the main reason she will be voting for Roberts.
“Because he has been endorsed by the Democratic Party, I’ll be voting for him,” said Waters. I actually do not know much about him but I am trusting in those around him who have endorsed him.”
Roberts had spent the day campaigning and visiting polling places in DeWitt and the 17th Ward in Syracuse. At 10:35 p.m., he made his long-awaited appearance at the Democrat’s celebration. In addition to thanking his supporters, Roberts gave praise to all those who participated in democracy on Election Day. “I don’t care if I just won by one vote,” Roberst said. “I just want to thank everyone who came out to vote today—period.”
(Billy Holbert is a graduate student in broadcast and digital journalism.)
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