The Common Council in Syracuse will likely remain Democratic...pending the results of one district seat. The race is still too close to call in the 1st District between incumbent Democrat Jake Barrett and Republican Joe Carni. Barrett hopes he can stay on as councilor to revitalize a key corridor…
"My goal is to have Butternut Street turned around, which is the spine of the district. It runs right up the center, has a lot of derelict homes; it has crime; it has gun fights; it has murders. I’d like to turn that street around, which will then make the whole body politic more healthy."
Still, the small difference in votes between Barrett and Carni could change last night’s result when absentee ballots are counted in the coming weeks.
See all local results here.
Republicans still have a chance to crack the all democratic common council. The race for district one was still too close to call after last night’s election results. It will come down to absentee ballots. Democrat Jake Barrett leads the race by 39 votes against republican candidate, Joseph Carni. Carni says the race is so close that he isn’t giving up hope.
“It’s not over yet. I appreciate everyone that voted for me and hopefully those absentees come out in my favor.”
Meanwhile, Second council district voters chose democrat Chad Ryan over Alex Walsh by a convincing margin. In the 3rd District, Democrat Bob Dougherty ran unopposed. In the 4th and 5th Districts, Democratic incumbents Khalid Bey and Nader Maroun won handily over their opponents. Bey says crime and jobs will be the focus of his next term.
"I have legislation right now that we’re looking to pass in the next couple of weeks to try and provide police some more adequate tools for dealing with some crimes, some criminal issues, negative behavior in the neighborhoods. But also still focused on jobs, trying to find opportunity for unemployed, underemployed people in the city."
Bey defeated Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins for the second time, but Hawkins collected about 40% of the vote.
