Mo Brown, who currently represents the Onondaga County Legislature's 15th District, is running a primary race against Assemblyman William Magnarelli. Credit: Courtesy of Maurice "Mo" Brown

Onondaga County Legislator Maurice Brown is mulling a run for the New York State Assembly’s 129th District seat currently occupied by longtime Syracuse Democrat Bill Magnarelli. 

Brown was recently re-elected to the county legislature, riding a historic wave of victories for local Democrats that saw the legislature flip from Republican for the first time in approximately 50 years. 

Brown told Central Current he is considering a run for State Assembly because he wants to bring to the fore an agenda of affordability with a renewed sense of urgency and a more direct leadership style. 

“The things I want to see from my assemblymember I’m not seeing from him, and it’s really more of a style difference than a competence difference,” Brown said of Magnarelli, who has not faced a primary in at least a decade. “We need someone who is going to fight. We need somebody who is going to be at the front, taking the lead on issues of childcare, healthcare and housing. That is what I plan to do.”

Magnarelli did not respond to multiple calls and texts requesting comment. He was first elected to the state legislature in 1998 and was as recently as 2016 endorsed by the Working Families Party, a party with which Brown has closely aligned himself. Since being elected in 1998, Magnarelli has built a financial war chest. He has raised more than $267,500. 

Brown has just more than $1,200 in his committee’s campaign account.

Childcare, housing, education, and other material issues that have characterized Brown’s political life in Syracuse have greater stakes at the state level, Brown said.

“The state has a much bigger say on how those things play out in our community,” Brown noted.

The 129th District encompasses vast swaths of Syracuse, as well as the town of Geddes and Van Buren, the village of Solvay, and a portion of the village of Baldwinsville. 

Brown has been an opponent of Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon’s decision to build an aquarium with tens of millions of dollars in county money. He’s opposed the aquarium in part because of his belief in using the money to make living in the county more affordable. He’s suggested the money could be used to build more housing or help tenants to stay in their homes. 

As a longtime local political operative, Brown has allied himself to progressive candidates and lawmakers all over upstate New York. 

He ran Assemblymember Anna Kelles’ campaign in the 125th Assembly District in 2020 and was the regional coordinator and elections manager for the New York Working Families Party in 2021. Brown was also on the board of directors of the New York Progressive Action Network.

Brown said Magnarelli was “not thrilled” when Brown informed him he planned on primarying Magnarelli, but that he understood where he was coming from.

“He understood why I had to do it, and he said he still has more things he wants to do on the state legislature,” Brown said of his call with Magnarelli.

Running to become a member of the state assembly is something Brown has thought about for years, but the timeline of his term in the county legislature poses even more questions.

Every county legislator’s term is up at the end of 2026, when a new law lengthening the terms of county legislators from two years to four is set to come into effect. Voters approved the ballot proposition, which also instituted term limits for legislators, last month.

“I can’t just take the upcoming four year term knowing that I’m thinking about running for assembly at some point in the next couple years,” Brown noted.

Managing editor Chris Libonati contributed reporting to this story.

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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...