The Onondaga County Legislature will have some new members after the results of Tuesday night’s election. One of them will be republican Kevin Meaker in the second district. The current Clay Town Councilor ran unopposed for Jim Rowley’s seat after the incumbent chose to run for state senate. At GOP election night headquarters, Meaker talked about wanting to make sure that local residents and businesses feel the benefits of Micron. But he knows there are other challenges too, like the aquarium. It’s been a hot-button issue that Meaker says many — but not all — residents support.
“When 30 percent of the people have an issue with something, you want to listen to them," Meaker said. "But the 70 percent seem very optimistic about it and they believe that they they want something in the area that will attract people to come to the area. And they know that we need that. We need people to come to the area to support local tourism.”
Other new lawmakers include Democrats Dan Romeo, Palmer Harvey, Nodesia Hernandez, and Maurice Brown, all of whom will succeed other democrats. Brown replaces Bill Kinne, who ran for County Executive and lost. Kinne could not run for positions simultaneously. Brown says he’s ready to jump in and advocate for his constituents.
“The district lines have changed. And my neighborhood, the university neighborhood, has actually been added into the 15th district, in place of Solvay," Brown said. "So the district is a lot more progressive, it's a lot bluer, and I'm looking to represent that. I'm looking to really bring a progressive voice to the legislature. There's just a lot that we need to talk about. We have to talk about transportation. We have to talk about the lack of housing, and I plan on being the loudest voice for that.”
At least one republican legislator will keep her seat after facing one of the few contested races in the legislature. Julie Abbott will go on to serve a third term after defeating newcomer Blake Carter 57 to 42 percent.
One seat is too close to call. Republican Mark Olson is only 46 votes ahead of Democrat Carrie Ingersoll-Wood. That will be decided by any remaining absentee ballots that come in over the next week, plus a possible recount.
