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Democrats will hold all 10 seats on Syracuse Common Council after three new councilors were elected Tuesday evening.

Rasheada Caldwell and Amir Gethers will take the two vacant at-Large seats. Jennifer Schultz will take over the 1st District seat formerly held by Republican Joe Carni, who is leaving council this year.

Caldwell, 45, is the youth community planning coordinator at the Allyn Foundation, a local nonprofit. She previously spent 14 years working with children and families at People’s Equal Action and Community Effort, another nonprofit. She won the seat with about 35% of the vote.

Gethers, 27, is a contract compliance officer for Onondaga County. He won the seat with just over 28% of the vote.

Caldwell and Gethers will fill the seats of Khalid Bey, who lost his race for mayor, and Ronnie White, who placed third in the Democratic primary in June.

Schultz, a community health planner and medical researcher, defeated Republican Josh Davis. With Davis’ defeat, Republicans’ only seat on the Common Council was taken by a Democrat.

Schultz beat Davis with over 64% of the vote after defeating the Democratic Party’s choice for the seat, council clerk John Copanas, in the June primary.

Carni decided not to run for reelection, instead opting to run for the District 7 Onondaga County Legislature seat which he lost against incumbent Democrat Mary Kuhn. 

Common Council President Helen Hudson and 2nd District Councilor Pat Hogan also won their elections for council seats. Councilors Latoya Allen, Joe Driscoll and Chol Majok ran unopposed.

Democrats Twiggy Billue, Nyatwa Bullock and Karen Cordano were elected to the Syracuse City School District Board of Education. Three Democrats and three Republicans were on the ballot for three vacant positions on the board.

In the Onondaga County Legislature, Republicans help on to their majority, despite a large organized effort by Democrats to flip seats. All 11 Republican seats of the 17 on the Legislature were retained by the party.

About 93,000 people voted in this election, a turnout of about 30%, Onondaga County Elections Commissioner Dustin Czarny said on Twitter. This marks a decrease of 5% from the 2017 turnout, the last mayoral election. 

Two of the five New York Constitutional amendments on the ballot passed. The right to clean air and water will become part of the state constitution after Proposal Two was passed with 67% of the vote, the largest margin of any of the proposals. 

“This amendment would put the same protections for our right to live in a healthy environment that we currently have for our rights to free speech, religion and due process,” said Rhea Jezer, political chair of the local Sierra Club chapter.

Proposal One, which changes the redistricting process, did not pass, with about 60% of voters going against the measure. Proposals Three and Four, which would enable the state to use same-day voter registration and permanently allow no-excuse absentee voting, were also voted down by similar margins. Proposal Five, which expands the jurisdiction of the New York City Civil Court, passed.

Published on November 2, 2021 at 10:49 pm

Contact Nick: [email protected] | @NickRobertsonSU