In a landslide election, state Sen. John DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse,has won his 11th term representing the 50thState Senate District.
State Sen. John DeFranciso, R-Syracuse, Celebrates 11th win
by Durrie Lawrence
As of 10:34 p.m. Tuesday evening, with 230 out of 240 districts reporting, DeFrancisco had just over 85 percent of the vote — or 78,787 votes — compared to 12,698 for Green Party candidate Michael Donnelly, according to the unofficial count by the Onondaga County Board of Elections.
The 50th State Senate District encompasses parts of Onondaga and Cayuga counties. DeFrancisco’s victory reflects the district’s voter enrollment. Of 193,296 registered voters, 35 percent are registered as Republicans, 32 percent are registered as Democrats, 25 percent are not affiliated with any political party. The Green Party has 417 registered voters in the district.
At the Republican campaign celebration, DeFrancisco was more concerned about other races than his own, dashing off to check poll results on the television between interviews with reporters.
“What candidates really do on Election Day is try and keep themselves busy, until they start counting the votes,” DeFrancisco said. He said he began his day at the gym before making appearances at a spaghetti fundraiser luncheon at the Our Lady of Pompei School and a turkey dinner at the Plainville Christian Church near Baldwinsville.
At the polls on Tuesday, voters expressed mixed emotions regarding the state senate races. The majority said they had no opinion, but some voiced support for DeFrancisco.
“He’s been fiscally responsible,” said Jane McChesney after leaving the polls at the Liverpool Public Library. She said she had been impressed with his opposition of the Destiny USA tax deal, but didn’t know much about his voting record.
“This time around, we just didn’t hear much about that race,” McChesney said.
At the Solvay-Geddes Community Youth Center, high school English teacher William Morey called the race “incredibly disappointing” as he left the polls. He said he felt that the redistricting done this year had allowed incumbents to strengthen their party’s hold on their seats.
This time, Morey—an unaffiliated voter—marked his ballot for Green Party candidate Mike Donnelley.
“He’s not an incumbent, and he was willing to run against insurmountable odds,” Morey said.
“I just wish he had competition,” said Michael Gentile, after voting in DeWitt with his 3-year-old daughter, Annalise. Gentile says he tends to vote Republican.
“When someone is running unopposed, I never think it’s a good thing,” he said. “Nobody knows much about him.”
In DeFrancisco’s opinion, running unopposed meant something else.
“I would like to think it means that I’ve been doing a good job, at least I hope that’s the case,” he said at the election night gathering of the Onondaga County Republican Party. “In the past, I’ve had Democratic opponents, and in the past I’ve always won with a large plurality.”
(Durrie Lawrence is a senior with dual majors in broadcast journalism and international relations.)
-30-
