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As Onondaga County democrats delivered victory speeches over the course of Tuesday’s county Democratic Committee election night party, NY-22 candidate Francis Conole took the stage to address inconclusive results in his narrowing race against Republican Brandon Williams.

“It is absolutely critical that every vote is counted, and we are waiting,” Conole said in his midnight address to the crowd. “This is something that is fundamental to our democracy. And protecting our democracy has been something that has been fundamental to our campaign.”

Williams led in Oswego and Madison Counties over the course of the night with Conole taking the majority in only Onondaga County. Votes from Oneida County, which heavily favored Williams, trickled in later in the night and into the morning.

About an hour after Conole’s midnight address to the crowd, Williams was up by only 246 votes with 87% of votes counted, according to The New York Times. Around 2:14 a.m., Williams declared victory with a lead of over 3,000 votes.

Following victories for county Democrats including Rachel May, Jimmy Monto and Tobias Shelly, New York state Assemblywoman Pamela Hunter addressed the crowd on the party’s victories across the county.

“You’re gonna see Democrat, after Democrat, after Democrat, after Democrat, after Democrat, after Democrat, after Democrat up here tonight,” Hunter said. “We knew that when we spread our message, people would vote.”

Rachel May, the incumbent Democrat for New York state’s 53rd Senate District, addressed the tumult of running in different districts over the past year in her victory speech. With New York state’s redistricting in May, Syracuse moved from New York’s 24th Congressional District into the 22nd and Syracuse’s state senate district changed to the 48th from the 53rd, which Rachel May now represents.

“We have worked so hard for so long,” Rachel May said. “It was a tug of war but I’m so proud to have this endorsement from the voters of the 48th district.”

With Oneida County unreported and votes coming in from other counties in NY-22, Rachel May’s daughter, Sophie May, told The Daily Orange that Conole’s election would mean more Democratic partnership in congress.

“There are strong Democrats in (congress) now, but I think Conole is someone who will be a good person to work with,” Sophie May said.

Tobias Shelly and Jimmy Monto’s victories in their respective elections mark two firsts for the county. Shelly is the first Democrat in decades to be elected sheriff and Monto is the first publicly-out LGBTQ person ever elected to the Syracuse Common Council.

“For every single 12, 13, 14, 15, 19 year-old LGBTQ+ person that is sitting out there thinking that possibilities are not there for you, they are endless,” Monto said. “We’ve waited too long for this to happen. … I am the first one and I will not be the last.”

Maurice Brown, a member of New York Progressive Action Network’s Board of Directors, said Democrats’ messaging was key to their success Tuesday night. Brown told The D.O. that if the party continues to focus on voter education, it will continue to move in a positive direction.

“If you look at the polls for NY-22, the more the voters learned about the candidates, the more they voted, and that’s not a coincidence,” Brown said.

Hunter referred to conversations between members of the party at the beginning of the year about getting Democrats out to vote, saying that leaders knew that harmful rhetoric would be a central challenge to their messaging. Following Tuesday night’s victories, she declared that the county is moving forward.

“We have a Democratic sheriff, y’all. Can you believe that?” Hunter said. “This was a blue tsunami.”

Asst. Digital Editor Shantel Guzman contributed to reporting for this article.

Published on November 9, 2022 at 4:37 am

Contact Jana: jlseal@syr.edu | @JanaLoSeal