Josh Ludden celebrates Jeremiah Thompson's win Tuesday night. Syracuse NY, November 4 2025. Credit: Maddi Jane Brown | Central Current

Onondaga County Democrats celebrated a historic night Tuesday at their election watch party at Harvey’s Garden. They flipped the Onondaga County Legislature for the first time in decades.

As the clock passed 11, the full loft at Harvey’s Garden erupted into increasingly frequent bouts of cheering. Large TVs broadcast election results. Across the county, Democrats won race after race. 

“We swept it,” County Legislator Maurice Brown said at the party, mimicking sweeping with an air broom. 

If unofficial election results hold, Democrats will have a 10-7 majority. Democrats picked up five seats and retained another contested seat: Jeremiah Thompson in District 4, Ellen Block in District 5, Gregory Eriksen in District 6, Chad Ryan in District 8, Nicole Watts in District 9 and Elaine Denton in District 10. 

Democrats’ wins come at a time when legislators say constituents are demanding action. Some incoming Democrats say constituents are horrified by the material conditions worsening in the county, including the temporary loss of federal government benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP. 

Others have told Democrats about the rising home prices that are making life in the county unaffordable.   

Members of the potentially new majority caucus say this is their time to restore faith in government and provide funding for services vital to county residents.

“It is going to be our ability to use some funds to do what’s right in the county.” Minority Leader Nodesia Hernandez, who represents District 17. Hernandez is unlikely to remain the minority leader if election results hold. 

The promise of action and change on issues like the loss of government assistance and the cost of the county’s proposed aquarium project propelled candidates to wins in unlikely districts, Democrats said. 

“I think that people have given up on hope that the county government would ever help them, and now, for the first time, it’s possible,” said Brown.

Some of the winning candidates say Brown was instrumental in helping them reach voters. Denton, who unseated incumbent Mark Olson in the race for District 10, said Brown’s experience running political campaigns in the county was a game changer.

“We focused on direct voter outreach,” she said. “We had a playbook. We followed it, and we won.”

Brown said he worked directly on four campaigns: Thompson, Denton, Block, and Watts. 

With the emphasis on voter outreach, some candidates said they had an informal contest to see who could knock on the most doors in their district. 

Thompson, touted by fellow candidates as a tireless canvasser, knocked on more than 1,500 doors, he said. Watts may very well have won that contest. She told Central Current last week she had knocked on the doors of 2,500 people in the North Side. 

That is more doors than people who voted in her race.

“We’re showing that Democrats are here to stay in Onondaga County,” said Max Ruckdeschel, the Onondaga County Democratic Committee Chair. “We’re looking to do a good job of governing.”

For Ruckdeschel, Democrats’ successes came down to the candidates. 

“We focused on winnable races,” he noted. “We had some great candidates. No filler.”

How did Democrats get here? 

The flip was a welcome surprise for Democrats. The process of searching for candidates began last year on Nov. 6, a day after Democrats lost the presidential election, Ruckdeschel said.

They landed on a mix of candidates with name recognition like Denton, who had served on the Manlius town board, and Ryan, who was a Syracuse Common Councilor for a couple terms, as well as new faces in districts where residents told candidates they wanted change — like Block’s.

Democrats were split in the District 9 race, where two would-be Democrats competed in a race with no Democrat. Ultimately, Watts’ strong ties to the community and robust ground game won the three-way race.

In the districts outside the city, candidates for municipal offices canvassed alongside candidates to boost each other’s standing with voters, Ruckdeschel said. 

“That was our focus, talking to the voters,” he said. “100% foot power, people power. We were going to get out and get our message to the people, and it worked.”

Despite the plan, Democrats did not expect to win every seat. 

“We are realistic,” said Hernandez in an interview on Oct. 28. “It’s going to take time. But we have this year. We have next year. We’re going to try our best.” 

On Election Day, as Democratic candidates dominated early voting numbers, she was more hopeful. 

“It’s going to be a refreshing feeling,” Hernandez said of the possibility of flipping the legislature.

How will they govern?

Democrats said they want to usher in a new era of transparency in the legislature, as well as use county funds to cover the shortfalls in social spending created by the federal budget, and revisit the economics of the proposed aquarium project.

Hernandez and Brown have, in previous interviews, talked about not having enough time to review amendments to agenda items introduced by Republican legislators. They say that shows the current majority caucus is not committed to transparency. 

“Transparency is the key,” Hernandez said. “I would never just allow anybody to go anywhere blindsided. Republicans or Democrats. We need the information to do our jobs successfully.”

Hernandez, Denton, and Thompson also said constituents are worried about the temporary loss of SNAP benefits due to the government shutdown. Syracuse.com reported recently that in Onondaga County, about one in five households depends on SNAP for a portion of their grocery budget every month. That amounts to $22 million for the entire county.

The three Democrats said they would support using money from the general fund’s unreserved fund balance, colloquially called the rainy day fund, to pay for at least some SNAP assistance. At the end of 2024, the county had $242.3 million in its fund balance, according to the 2026 executive budget.

“Even being able to have the majority say ‘can we take some money… from our fund balance that’s being saved for a rainy day, because today is that rainy day,” Hernandez said. 

Denton said that while she was canvassing, many of her constituents expressed concerns about inequality. 

“Those conversations really stuck with me, especially when the county is spending $100 million on the aquarium,” Denton said. “We need to make better choices and take care of the people before we take care of our wants.” 

The County Legislature has so far supported $85 million in funding to build an aquarium. Earlier this year, they denied additional funding to the project. Now, the new majority is interested in exploring alternatives. 

Brown said he wants to do a study to see what else the aquarium building could be used for. He has previously said he is potentially interested in using it as housing. 

Brown also said he was interested in becoming the chair of the legislature. “I don’t have much political ambition except that seat,” he said. 

He explained that the chair has “a lot of say” over the county budget, which he believes is a major source of power for the legislature. “We’ve had this business first model of let’s help the businesses so that they can help the community,” said Brown. “And I disagree with that. I think we can help the community.” 

Correction: a previous version of this story said that three Democrats supported using the general fund, valued at $242.3 million, to partially fund SNAP assistance. The correct source is the general fund’s unreserved fund balance. 

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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...

Laura Robertson is a staff reporter covering Onondaga County. Prior to joining Central Current, she lived on the edge of the Bering Strait in Nome, Alaska, where she worked as a reporter for a year. She...