Onondaga County’s Republican Committee is regrouping and looking forward after suffering election defeats on the federal and state levels. Freshman representative Brandon Williams lost to Democrat John Mannion in the race for the 22nd congressional district by a convincing margin of 54 to 46 percent. GOP Committee Chair Joe Carni says Mannion had a head start that was hard to overcome.
“The amount of turnout, the early voting and all of that, it's hard to make up that big a difference there, Carni said." Leading up to this, we all thought it was going to be a very tight, contested race, within a point or two. To be chasing like that throughout the evening is tough."
Mannion won Onondaga County by 18 points, while Williams carried Madison, Oneida, and Cayuga Counties. Cortland broke just about even. On the state level, local Democratic incumbents in the senate and assembly easily defended their seats from Republican challengers. Regarding the future, Chairman Carni says the committee is focusing on bolstering its ranks to emerge stronger.
“Coming from someone who ran and was a city councilor, obviously, the city is a tougher place for Republicans. That's very clear in the results, unfortunately. So, working with our city, probably tougher in the city, our town chairs and and making a concerted effort to reach out to new individuals to register as well as to get involved.”
The number of newly enrolled Republicans has struggled to keep pace with Democrats. For example, over three days in late October, data from the board of elections showed Democrats gained 220 voters compared to about 130 for Republicans.
