Russo campaigns on election day (Michael Contino)
Republican challenger Andrew Russo has lost his first bid for elected office in the 49th state Senate District race.
“We did everything we could and if we had to run this campaign all over again we would have done the same way. It is just that it is very difficult to beat an incumbent in the New York state government. But we came very close, especially considering that I have never done this before,” Russo said in an interview after the unofficial vote count showed him trailing incumbent Dave Valesky, D-Oneida.
As of 11:18 p.m., with nearly 100 percent of the vote tallied, the unofficial results showed Russo of Jamesville lost with 42 percent or 19,445 votes. Valesky had 26,303 or 57 percent, according to the Onondaga County Board of Elections.
The 49th Senate District includes Madison County and parts of Cayuga, Onondaga and Oneida Counties.
The 49th District was a key battleground for control of the state senate. Republicans lost the legislature’s majority in 2008. Before the elections, they held 30 seats to 32 for the Democrats in the state senate.
In the campaign, Russo came under fire for not voting for many years. Russo defended his lack of voting as a result of his life abroad as a concert pianist. And even when he was living in Europe, he said, he contributed to his community a non-profit organization called Music Journeys aimed at providing musical education to Syracuse city schools.
But that group also caused controversy in his campaign. The Post-Standard reported on Oct. 27 that Russo had made an illegal $250 donation to state Sen. John DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, out of the non-profit’s account. Russo says at the time he didn’t know donations from a non-profit organization’s account were illegal.
At the Doubletree Hotel’s GOP gathering, Republicans were heartbroken by Russo’s loss, said Ronald Leeds, one of Russo’s supporters.
“This was his intent to right the un-rightable wrongs and regretfully for all of us he did not succeed,” Leeds said.
Russo didn’t make any public speech. In interview, he said, “I need one good night sleep which I’ll get tonight then I’ll start catching up with my kids and get back to work.”
(Marie Claudet is a broadcast and digital journalism graduate student.)
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