New York’s State Senate and Assembly seats will remain Democratic in Onondaga County. On Tuesday, Rachel May defeated Republican Janet Burman in the election for the state Senate’s 53rd District seat and incumbent Bill Magnarelli defeated Republican challenger Edward Ott for the state Assembly seat.

“I’m excited and proud, of course,” May said. “It’s a big responsibility and obviously I want to do the best I can.”

May garnered 56 percent of the vote in Onondaga County, leaving Burman more than 20 percentage points behind. Magnarelli, who’s been an assemblyman since 1998, won with nearly 74 percent of the vote in Onondaga County. Ott trailed by more than 50 percentage points.

“We’re just looking for a blue wave all the way around,” said Pat Kuno, a participant at the Democrats’ watch party Tuesday night at the Marriott Syracuse Downtown. Kuno taught Magnarelli’s kids when she was a teacher at Cathedral Academy of Pompei, Kuno said.

May, coordinator of sustainability education at Syracuse University, attended an on-campus watch party in Schine Student Center on Tuesday.

“I feel the energy in here and the students invited me, so I was just excited to be here,” she said, at about 8 p.m. “I haven’t really been paying attention to the results, so I’m just nervous.”

In September, May defeated incumbent David Valesky, who held the seat for 14 years, in the Democratic primary for the 53rd District seat. The upset marked the first time Valesky had been challenged by another Democrat in a primary.

Rachel May has been elected to the New York state Senate pic.twitter.com/I0ddlEGrbj

— India Miraglia (@IndyRow) November 7, 2018

A native to the Boston area, May moved to central New York in 2001 with her husband, who began working at Le Moyne College. She received a master’s degree from SUNY-ESF in 2003. At SU, she works to connect students and professors to administrators and find inefficiencies in the university system, per her campaign website.

May supports the New York Health Act, campaign finance reform and an end to partisan gerrymandering. She’s also expressed support for the community grid option to replace the aging Interstate 81 viaduct in Syracuse.

“(Rachel May) is very progressive and stands up for people,” said Steve Blusk, a participant at the Democrats’ watch party. “That’s the most important thing, the hard working families as opposed to just big money interests.”

Burman’s campaign focused on fighting concentrated poverty, creating an equitable tax structure, lowering the costs of government and improving resources for education and for farming. She was endorsed by the Veterans Party of Onondaga County.

She has lost campaigns for New York State Senate, the Onondaga County Legislature and the Syracuse Common Council.

Edward Ott received 22 percent of the vote against Magnarelli for the 129th Assembly district seat. Josh Shub-Seltzer | Staff Photographer

Magnarelli will continue to represent the 129th Assembly district, which includes Syracuse’s Northside and Westside, Eastwood, Strathmore and Valley areas as well as the entire towns of Geddes and Van Buren. About two-thirds of the city of Syracuse’s population is in the 129th district. Magnarelli has been re-elected to the assembly every two years since 1998.

“I think he listens to the constituents,” said Susan Gifford, a participant at the watch party. “He’s always representing them and he always has. I think he’s a seasoned representative for us.”

Magnarelli was the prime sponsor of the 2002 Amber Alert law, 2004 legislation mandating education about shaken baby syndrome and the 2011 missing vulnerable adult alert.

“Obviously I feel great. I’ve been here before and it’s always a thrill winning an election, and it’s always gratifying to know that your constituents think enough of you,” Magnarelli said.

Since 2016, he’s created legislation to improve Onondaga Lake, written bills to improve neglected properties in Syracuse and worked on legislation to protect jobs in central New York, per his website.

Ott, who has not filed any campaign contributions with the New York State Board of Elections, according to Syracuse.com, ran on a campaign of “Commitment over Complacency,” according to his website. He expressed frustration over his campaign largely being ignored by media outlets.

“I did the best I could with what I had, which compared to my respective opponent wasn’t much,” Ott said at the Republican’s watch party.

–Asst. Sports Copy Editor KJ Edelman contributed reporting to this story.

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, Senator Rachel May’s home city was misstated. 

Published on November 7, 2018 at 12:54 am

Contact Natalie: nrrubiol@syr.edu