Democrat Jeremiah Thompson (pictured) faces Legislator Colleen Gunnip in the race for the Onondaga County Legislature's 4th District seat. Credit: Courtesy of Jeremiah Thompson

Political newcomer Jeremiah Thompson will challenge incumbent Republican Colleen Gunnip in November to represent the 4th District in the Onondaga County Legislature.

Thompson, who is a writing instructor at Syracuse University and an actor living in the village of Liverpool, will appear on the ballot under the Democratic line on Nov. 4. 

The district Thompson will vie to represent will encompass the villages of Liverpool and Solvay, as well as the towns of Salina and Geddes. 

Gunnip, Thompson’s Republican opponent, is seeking a third term in the Legislature. She declined to participate in Central Current’s pre-election Q&A series. 

Thompson is a native of Buffalo. The professional backgrounds of his father, a roofer, and his mother, a nurse, both influenced his upbringing, he said. 

“I know what it is to make hard choices to see what my parents have had to do to make life better for us,” Thompson said. 

Deciding to run for Legislature wasn’t an easy choice. Thompson said he questioned whether he had anything to contribute as an elected official as the outcomes of the 2024 presidential election trickled in. He then found inspiration in one of the courses he teaches on ethics and civic discourse.  

“If I’m asking my students to step up on this sort of thing, I really can’t do much less than what I ask of them,” Thompson said. 

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Central Current: How will you make up for the potential gap in funding needed to build the aquarium?

Thompson: I don’t want to see taxpayer dollars being further directed towards this undertaking. The county executive is supposed to be working to secure funding from private sources to make up whatever gap there is. If presented with it, I’m not going to vote in favor of the remainder coming from the taxpayers. 

Maybe it’ll be a great attraction. I just don’t think that was the best use of taxpayer money, particularly that lump sum of $85 million Yep,

This is part of the reason why we want to grow the Democrat’s presence on the County Legislature. We want to have some sense of accountability. I know that there was a provision passed so those private donations can come in anonymously.That kind of runs against transparency. It gives me some reservation.

CC: How will you handle the potential loss of funding to services like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — SNAP — and Medicaid projected in the federal budget?

Thompson: We have to advocate for the funding because Medicaid being administered on the county level needs to be highlighted as a priority. The folks who are currently running for the seats, and many of the folks who are there now, and I would advocate to prioritize money being directed toward those services, to protect, to help our community. 

This is one of the reasons why it’s frustrating, to see that $85 million go out the door when it could have been invested in ways that could have cushioned some of this blow. 

CC: The Legislature passed two resolutions to transfer land to the Onondaga Nation. As a legislator, do you believe you have a role in facilitating a transfer? If so, what is that role?

Thompson: I want to facilitate the ongoing dialog and conversations to work toward a resolution. Part of my understanding is that the conversations weren’t fully formal… it never reached the level of a more material conversation that would result in an actual decision. 

I feel strongly about the situation in the history of that space. The fact that the conversation has been shelved is really troubling, and I would like to at a minimum, without overstating my capacity, to find a way to get back to that conversation and see if we move forward with it.

CC: In a hypothetical scenario where federal funding for Onondaga County is conditioned on the basis of the County Sheriff’s Office cooperating with the operations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, would you be in favor of supporting that collaboration with ICE? Why or why not?

Thompson: Our local law enforcement is professional, qualified and capable of enforcing and handling any sort of legal issues without interference from ICE. I don’t see a role for ICE to be playing in our communities. I was glad to hear our sheriff say that he was not planning to cooperate with ICE. 

If they determine to make funding contingent upon it, my inclination as a citizen and as a member of this community is to not comply with that request.  

As a representative who has to look out for the well being of his community if the withholding of that federal funding is going to materially harm people throughout the community… I have to weigh that in the decision. 

The idea of making that compromise is really troubling. So no, I don’t see myself inclined to support such a request.

CC: As the arrival of Micron looms, how do you plan to monitor and ensure that Micron lives up to its lofty promises to protect Central New York’s bountiful natural life?

Thompson: Central New York, a lot of times, feels like Charlie Brown with Lucy pulling the football away, where ‘I’ll believe it when it happens,’ because we don’t think that things are actually going to materialize.

I believe that we have to have mechanisms in place to make sure they’re holding up their end of the bargain, if for no other reason than the fact that we have in this area also a legacy of industry extracting from the area.  

I would like to see a relationship of mutual respect. We can still be a welcoming community to Micron while still holding them accountable to certain expectations, whether that be reports on transparency, whether that be commitments on the types of jobs and what the workforce is going to look like, it’s not too much to ask for more concrete answers on those things.

CC: If ICE approaches the county and requests sensitive information to aid in what it says is a “criminal investigation” – and refuses to provide more details – should the county furnish sensitive data from a department like the County Department of Social Services to federal authorities with unclear motives?

Thompson: No. I operate within the parameters of the law, and I wouldn’t instruct anyone else to break the law, but I would want to make sure that before any collaboration took place, that everything was in ship-shape.

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Eddie Velazquez is a Syracuse journalist covering economic justice in the region. He is focused on stories about organized labor, and New York's housing and childhood lead poisoning crises. You can follow...