Council president and top mayoral aide vie to become Syracuse’s next mayor

The race to succeed Ben Walsh as Syracuse mayor is almost over, and the two leading contenders – Common Council President Pat Hogan and Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens – have largely said all there is to say with the finish line in sight. Will Hogan finally get his “turn” following a failed campaign for mayor in 2013? Or will Owens now have a chance to push through policies and frameworks she didn’t have the chance to while serving as Walsh’s deputy?

There’s no public polling for the race, but there has already been a spike in early voting as residents grapple with the question of their first new mayor in eight years. It can be hard to turn a corner in Syracuse and not see a “Hogan for Syracuse” poster staring back at you. Much of the Democratic establishment has gotten behind him already, including the bulk of the city's state representatives as well as both the city and county Democratic committees. Owens has less institutional backing, but she has more money and progressive bona fides, including the support of the New York Working Families Party. Whoever wins the Democratic nomination is expected to easily win the general election, which will, for better or worse, shift City Hall back toward the partisanship that New York knows and loves after close to a decade of Walsh running his administration as an independent. 

Affordability and public safety are paramount concerns for candidates and voters, and Syracuse residents have already seen evidence of their different views on policy. Hogan and Owens were on opposite sides of the city's budget process, which saw Owens support Walsh’s attempt to push through a $348 million budget and Hogan lead the Common Council’s successful spending cuts. The two also split over “good cause” eviction legislation. Hogan was part of the council opposition that led to the tenant protections stalling in City Hall, while Owens plans to push for the policy should she become mayor. 

Syracuse used to be a landing post for displaced persons seeking refuge in America, but under the Trump administration, those days are gone. Each candidate has said they would try to mitigate ICE’s impact on local communities, although the issue is partly moot given Syracuse’s status as a sanctuary city.

The question on some voters' minds is whether Owens, who has served as Walsh’s deputy for years, would simply represent a continuation of the incumbent mayor’s tenure. Walsh is hardly unpopular, especially after winning successive races without a party machine behind him, but her closeness to the incumbent could hurt her with voters who are looking for a bigger change and a paring back of Walsh’s overly collaborative leadership style.

Following a flag-raising ceremony on World Refugee Day, Owens said that she was not sure why local Democrats had thrown their lot in with Hogan instead of her, though she acknowledged that this campaign serves as her entry to electoral politics. 

“I'm a lifelong Democrat, but I may not have been considered to be within the local Democratic establishment,” she told City & State, adding that her outsider status could be an asset in the race. “There are many individuals who are Democrats in this city who are also not.”