Councilor Pat Hogan (left), Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens (center) and Councilor Chol Majok (right) are vying for the Democratic line in the mayoral race. They faced off Wednesday in their first debate of the primary cycle.

The candidates vying for the Democratic line in the Syracuse mayor’s race faced off Wednesday in the first debate of the election cycle.

Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens, Common Councilor Pat Hogan and Common Councilor Chol Majok all made their case to follow Mayor Ben Walsh, who is serving his final term as mayor. 

Syracuse.com | Post Standard hosted the hour-long debate at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University.

Hogan and Majok frequently criticized the Walsh administration — and Owens — for how the administration has handled its nearly eight years in office. They both said city operations needs a new approach. 

Hogan, who serves as the Council’s president pro tempore, was chosen as the Onondaga County Democratic Committee’s candidate during the designation process. In the last two mayoral races, the committee’s designated candidate has not won the primary race. 

Early voting in the Democratic primary election begins June 14, and the primary election is on June 26.

Here’s what the candidates said at Thursday’s debate:

Housing

Following opening statements, the candidates laid out their vision for addressing the city’s housing crisis. 

Majok said he would like for the city to more aggressively take on bad landlords. 

Owens defended what the city has already done. She cited the city’s lawsuit of the owners of Skyline Apartments. The city also recently sued the owners of Nob Hill Apartments. 

Hogan remained skeptical of “Good Cause Eviction” legislation, which would force landlords to provide a reason for evicting tenants in housing court. During the debate, he said Syracuse “should see how it works in other cities” before adopting such legislation. 

The legislation first came before the Common Council in July 2024. Lawmakers held information sessions before pulling the legislation from their agenda. 

Hogan has received early support from landlords and building developers in his bid for mayor. 

All three candidates agreed that Syracuse needs more housing. Hogan said that construction isn’t happening fast enough under Walsh. He called for collaborating with organizations that he said have proven experience in building new housing. 

Hogan said those organizations include Home HeadQuarters and the Greater Syracuse Land Bank, which he said has constructed over 1,400 new homes in the past 10 years. Hogan serves as chair of the land bank.

“We have to try every channel to build more housing,” Hogan said.

Owens pushed back, insisting the city is building new housing at a productive rate and would continue to do so under her leadership. 

Later, when the candidates were asked about the city’s lead crisis, Majok leveled criticisms at the Walsh administration’s response to lead in paint and water pipes throughout Syracuse homes.

The city has said a testing snafu led it to report higher than normal rates of lead in water in Syracuse homes to New York State. Majok accused the city of failing to hold itself accountable for the testing problem. 

East Adams Redevelopment Project

The $1 billion redevelopment of public housing featured throughout the debate.

Majok said the city administration and Blueprint 15 has lacked accountability in its handling of the redevelopment.

Owens responded to Majok’s swipe at Blueprint 15, whose board of directors she serves on.

Blueprint 15 is the non-profit organization tasked with performing community outreach in conjunction with the Syracuse Housing Authority’s plans for a $1 billion neighborhood redevelopment project in the city’s South Side. 

That project has struggled. Plans for the Children’s Rising Center, key to the redevelopment  to augment housing plans, stalled earlier this year. The city, SHA, the Allyn Family Foundation and Blueprint 15 had attempted to collaborate for years on the project.  

In the aftermath, the involved parties have blamed each other. Members of Blueprint 15 have insisted that the housing authority missed deadlines to submit paperwork to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, resulting in the project losing a time-sensitive grant. 

The housing authority maintains it did not miss deadlines, and blamed Blueprint 15 and other project partners for not securing evergreen funding.

Despite defending Blueprint 15 and blaming SHA for the center stalling, Owens said she differs from Walsh on his approach to the redevelopment. 

“This is where my good friend and boss Ben Walsh and I part ways, is his ability to get along with people and try to give people chance after chance after chance,” Owens said. “Two years ago, I saw the training coming down the road for SHA and the need for their capacity building and the need for us to do some different things when it came to capacity, leadership and the board.”

Hogan referenced the children’s center in his opening remarks, tacking it onto a list of “problems that our current city administration has not addressed.” 

“We have the tragedy of the Children’s Rising Center, disappointed a neighborhood on the South Side, and disappointed the children of the South Side,” Hogan said.

Syracuse police and immigration

All three candidates said they did not want to see increased collaboration between the Syracuse Police Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers under their leadership.

When asked about the term ‘sanctuary city,’ and its application to the city of Syracuse, the candidates offered different perspectives. Baker, the moderator, reminded the candidates of former mayor Stephanie Miner’s vocal opposition to then-president Donald Trump. Miner declared Syracuse a sanctuary city and held weekly rallies protesting the president.

Hogan said that embracing that sanctuary status could result in undue retaliation from the White House.

“I’m also cognizant of the fact that the person in the White House has one memory, and I’m not going to poke the bears, as they say, and draw a big red circle around Syracuse,” Hogan said. “And then have 25 ICE agents arrive in Hancock airport kicking down doors on Gifford Street.”

Owens pointed out that ICE agents are already operating in Syracuse. She said that Miner’s designation, though not a legal ordinance, was consistent with the city’s welcoming nature. Walsh has clarified earlier this year that he prefers to call Syracuse a welcoming city, not a sanctuary city.

Majok gave a more personal answer, drawing on his own experience fleeing war in Sudan and finding refuge in Syracuse.

“The reason Syracuse is so dear to my heart is it has given me a second chance in life,” Majok said. “I would like that second chance for anybody that is fleeing war-torn spaces and violence everywhere, for Syracuse to be a space where they can seek respite.”

Hiring a new police chief

With Police Chief Joe Cecile set to retire at the end of the year, the incoming mayor will be tasked with hiring his replacement. 

Hogan and Owens said they would hire from within the department, while Majok said he would be looking for someone that could lead a cultural change in the SPD focused on increasing accountability.

Majok, the chair of the Common Council’s Public Safety Committee,has tried for the last year to change the Citizen Review Board, including proposing legislation that would give lawmakers more authority over the CRB. It has received negative reactions from the CRB, which has gone through turmoil in the last year.  

That independent police oversight body has not functioned for over half a year. Majok and fellow councilors worked to restaff the board, but the board’s chair and another appointee resigned last month, citing the council’s alleged encroachment of the board’s independence. 

He said the council will refill those vacant seats and continue to urge the CRB to hire an administrator, which Majok says is crucial to getting the board back on track with its reviews of complaints alleging police misconduct.

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Patrick McCarthy is a staff reporter at Central Current covering government and politics. A graduate of Syracuse University’s Maxwell and Newhouse Schools, McCarthy was born and raised in Syracuse and...