Incumbent Bill Magnarelli, D-Syracuse, is the winner against Republican challenger Rick Guy in the 120th Assembly District race.
“I think the people of my district knew my record,” said Magnarelli as Democrats cheered him on Tuesday night at the Holiday Inn hotel in Liverpool off Electronics Parkway. “They knew the leadership that I brought to the assembly and I think they took a look at the way we conducted our campaign and said, ‘You know, that’s the kind of fellow we wanted to keep in Albany.’ And I think that really mattered.”
Magnarelli, 60, had been reelected to the seat for the last 12 years, and will now enter his seventh term. As of 11:18 p.m., with almost 100 percent of the polls reporting, Magnarelli unofficially won with 63 percent or 17,938 votes. Guy received 37 percent, or 10,520 votes, according to the Onondaga County Board of Elections.
The 120th state Assembly District covers the city of Syracuse’s Northside, Westside, Eastwood, Strathmore and Valley areas, as well as the towns of Van Buren and Geddes.
Magnarelli entered politics in 1995, when he was first elected to the Syracuse Common Council. In 1998, he won the 120th Assembly district seat in an open race without an incumbent.
Going into the election on Tuesday, Magnarelli had the advantage in voter enrollment. As of April 2010, there are 74,774 registered voters in the district. Of that total, about 43 percent—or 32,1190—are Democrats. About 25 percent—or 18,889—are registered Republicans. Unaffiliated voters number 18,494—or about 25 percent.
He was also ahead in campaign fundraising. As of Nov. 1, Magnarelli had raised $191,178 compared to Guy’s $40,675 according to campaign finance reports filed with the New York State Board of Elections.
At the polls on Tuesday, some voters like 85-year-old Elizabeth Kozicki said they showed up because they wanted new representation. Kozicki cast her ballot at Transfiguration Church on Teall Avenue in northern Syracuse. She didn’t vote for incumbents like Magnarelli, she said, even though she had met him in church before.
At the Democratic Party’s vote-watching party at the Holiday Inn in Liverpool, Ruth Kutz, the Democratic chair for the 19th ward, praised Magnarelli as a good elected official and party member. “I admire him very much as a person. Basically I think he’s a good Democrat,” she said. “He may not always be quite as liberal as I am. But I think he has Democratic values.”
For his part, Magnarelli arrived at the Holiday Inn with his wife, Karen, and other family members around 11:30 p.m. He thanked his campaign’s volunteers and staffers for helping him ward off the threat of outraged voters unhappy with state government.
“But we worked hard and we did a lot of listening,” he said. “Not a lot of talking, a lot of listening.”
(Rebecca Shabad is a senior with dual majors in broadcast journalism and political science.)
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