Democratic mayoral candidates exhibit civility and passion in debate

Current Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh’s time in office is coming to an end due to term limits. This means a new mayor of Syracuse will be elected for the first time since 2018. With the 2025 primary elections coming up in less than two months, new candidates seek to earn their party’s endorsement and ticket for the general election. 

Wednesday night, Syracuse.com hosted a mayoral debate for the three candidates on the Democratic primary ballot at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. Syracuse Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens and Common Councilors Pat Hogan and Chol Majok stood before Chris Baker, an editor at Syracuse.com and the moderator of the debate, and answered questions regarding some of the most pressing issues within the Syracuse community.

Affordable housing and housing concerns in anticipation of the Micron Technology plant in Clay was the first topic of discussion. The candidates agreed with Syracuse’s current strategy of maintaining ongoing housing development projects, however, working with Syracuse residents themselves was one bold suggestion by Majok.

“What we are not doing is taking care of what we already have,” said Majok when asked what Syracuse can do to improve efforts to address the housing crisis. “We are not enforcing enough to make sure that bad landlords and people who are letting properties deteriorate are taking care of those properties. We need to be strong…and hold those landlords accountable.”

Poor housing and infrastructure have brought about another issue of high regard discussed during the debate: the lead and water crisis. When asked about it, candidates gave personal accounts of the negative effects of lead in water and paint.

“My son when he was two years old,” Owens said, “we received a notice from the health department because he had elevated lead. My background in Head Start helps me understand the devastating impact it has on brain development.”

Majok maintained his emphasis on accountability.

“From bad testing to IT to Blueprint 15, there is no accountability; there is no ownership. That is where the problems start. We know that we have been struggling with lead since this administration took office. Little continues to be done and there is no ownership.”

The Syracuse Common Council is accountable for delaying a planned property tax reevaluation. The reevaluation is a process that has not been completed in Syracuse since the mid nineties. The potential project has many Syracuse residents anxious about increased property taxes. Hogan gave his perspective in the decision not to complete a tax revaluation in 2025.

“You don’t get the phone calls I get” said Hogan after Baker asked him to justify postponing the reevaluation. “People ask us about their medicare or their medicaid or their social security because of the chaos in Washington. People can’t afford their living right now. For a stable way of life, we have to think back about how we’re going to accomplish this.”

Two major takeaways from the debate stood out, especially when comparing them to this past years’ unconventional presidential debates. The first was unseriousness, when appropriate, can be engaging for viewers during a debate.

About halfway through his questions, Baker tasked the panel with only answering the next series of questions with one-word responses. The “lightning round” covered a wide variety of topics, including the whether the Christopher Colombus statue in Downtown Syracuse should be taken down, Kathy Hochul’s performance as New York Governor on a scale from one-to-ten, and the best sandwich shop in Syracuse. The light-hearted moment gave candidates a chance to breathe and show a more personal side of themselves.

The other takeaway was that civil debate in politics is possible. The candidates displayed an incredible degree of respect for one another. They all attributed it to their years of experience working together and serving the city of Syracuse.

“We’ve all worked together for many years,” Hogan explained. “It doesn’t always have to be a battering ram against each other. We’ve always acted in a collegial manner towards each other.”

“I think they [debate watchers] heard from three people who love the city and have a passion for the city,” Owens said. “I hope it engages people to be more involved in what’s going on at City Hall, whether it be the Mayor’s office or City Council.”

“Civic political engagement is alive in Syracuse,” Majok said.