Voters in several Onondaga County towns added Democrats to town boards, either by ousting incumbent Republicans or claiming open seats. The victories were part of a blue wave that flipped the county legislature to Democratic control.
Party leaders were confident heading into election day, but were pleasantly surprised by their level of success. County Democratic committee chair Max Ruckdeschel is one of the winners as supervisor-elect in the town of DeWitt.
“I thought we were going to be very successful," he said. "But the results that we had were at the upper limits of what I thought was possible.”
He said their slate of candidates ran clean, enthusiastic, and positive races that largely avoided the national political divide.
“None of our candidates were out there saying, 'vote for Democrats, we're not Trump. Vote for me, I'm not Trump,' Ruckdeschel said. "It was, 'vote for me, I'm gonna do what's best for the town of Salina. Vote for me, I'm gonna do what's best for the town of Clay.' And that's what resonated with people, was a positive message, was something different from what they're seeing in Washington.”
One of the most notable victories for Democrats was in the Town of Salina, where they swept supervisor and town board races, along with county legislature seats. Ruckdeschel said an example of a local issue bothering residents is the closure of a crumbling portion of Townline Road on the border of Salina and DeWitt.
“The Republicans in control of the Salina town government have been unwilling to work with New York State to get it paved.," he said. "So, it has just sat there and when I spoke to [supervisor-elect] Raul [Huerta], the first thing he said was, 'Townline Road is going to be paved before you know it.'”
Democrats also had noteworthy gains in many traditionally GOP towns, including three open council seats in Camillus, two seats each in Clay and Geddes, one seat each in Onondaga and Skaneateles, and wins in Pompey for town supervisor and council.
