Less than a week after incumbent Mayor Stephanie Miner won the Democratic primary for the 2013 mayoral election, the local Republican Party announced on Monday it will not have a candidate to run against her.

“It’s unfortunate that we don’t have a Republican candidate, but politics is a lot like baseball. There will always be another season in politics,” said Tom Dadey, chairman of the Onondaga County Republican Committee. “We gave it a yeoman’s effort to try and find a candidate.”

Dadey said the uphill battle to run against Miner and to prepare a campaign in just seven weeks was a critical reason why the party declined to choose a candidate for this year’s election, according to a recording provided by WAER.

He said a lot of potential candidates the Republican Party considered did not want the nomination for multiple reasons, including making tough decisions, facing the media’s scrutiny and raising the necessary funds.

Miner will face opponents Kevin Bott from the Green Party and Ian Hunter of the Conservative Party.

Robert McClure, a professor of political science and public affairs at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said he was not surprised with the Republican Party’s decision.

“The Republican Party in the city of Syracuse is vastly outnumbered and unlikely to win any citywide election, so they’re weak,” McClure said. “We’ve got a relatively successful incumbent in a dominant majority party. Who the hell wants to run against her?”

He said he does not believe Miner will face any strong opposition from the Green Party or the Conservative Party because of their lack of supporters.

Dadey said at the news conference that the Republican Party is now planning ahead for future elections by focusing on Common Council positions in Syracuse.

“We don’t have a single seat in the city of Syracuse,” Dadey said. “We’re going to focus our efforts on races we can win.”

He said he hopes to have a gradual increase of Republicans in public office in Syracuse. The party should be primed to nominate a candidate by the next mayoral election, he said.

Along with Common Council positions, Republicans are also running for positions on the Board of Education, city court judge and for legislature seats this year.

“I think there’s a lot of promise with the Republican Party in the city going forward,” Dadey said. “I believe we have some good young candidates who are going to do well on Nov. 5.”

Published on September 17, 2013 at 1:49 am

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