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Democrats Choose Pam Hunter in 128th Assembly District Primary; GOP's John Sharon is Ready

Scott Willis
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WAER News

Syracuse Common Councilor-at-Large Pam Hunter Thursday clinched the Democratic line on the November ballot for the 128th Assembly District seat.  About 1,800 voters chose Hunter, the party's designee, over fellow Councilor-at-large Jean Kessner, who earned about 1,000 votes; former Onondaga County Legislator David Stott was a distant third with just over 600 votes.  But Stott will still be on the ballot for the general election on the Conservative Party line.  

  Until the results of the primary, Republican assembly candidate John Sharon didn’t know who he’d be running against.  That hasn’t been the case during his previous three tries for the seat, when his opponent was Sam Roberts.  Sharon will see if his run against Hunter will yield a different result this time around.   He says he's not easily deterred; you could say he is determined.

"Why am I doing this?  It's remarkable, isn't it.  I'm not good at quitting.  I've just never been good at it."

Sharon has run…and lost three times against democrat Sam Roberts.  The seat opened up for a special election when Roberts decided to accept an appointment to the Cuomo administration early into his third term.  Sharon says the lack of an incumbent is part of the reason he jumped back in. 

"We talked about it, and the decision was...you have to try.  Here I am people know me a little bit.  I've made substantial progress here in the city over my (ahem) number of campaigns.  I think someone told me that we pulled down all together 45% of the voters, which is pretty good for a republican in this district."

   The sprawling district leans heavily democratic because of its city neighborhoods, but, that, too doesn’t seem to bother Sharon.  He knows it's a difficult environment for a republican.  

"So what does that mean?  I should fold my tents and go away? I don't think so.  I don't think that's good from a personal point of view; I don't think that's good for the Republican Party; I don't think it's good for this community.  The voters of this community deserve an alternative choice."

What does bother him, though, is a recent article about a study that shows Syracuse has the highest rate of extreme poverty among blacks and hispanics in the nation.

Credit Scott Willis / WAER News
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WAER News
What's the old cliche about politicians kissing babies?

"Two out of the three candidates are common councilors.  My question to them is ,'Where have you been?'  You really want to come to the residents of this community and say OK, look what I've done, send me to Albany?"

Sharon says it comes down to jobs, and he’ll reach out to businesses with the hope of bringing them here to create opportunities for residents.  But first, he says businesses need an infrastructure that supports them…and the city’s crumbling roads and pipes aren’t very attractive.   Sharon says even if he doesn’t win in November, it’s important for city residents and others to know that there are republicans who care.  

The seat will be up for grabs again next year for a full two-year term.  

Scott Willis covers politics, local government, transportation, and arts and culture for WAER. He came to Syracuse from Detroit in 2001, where he began his career in radio as an intern and freelance reporter. Scott is honored and privileged to bring the day’s news and in-depth feature reporting to WAER’s dedicated and generous listeners. You can find him on twitter @swillisWAER and email him at srwillis@syr.edu.