In early November, residents of Tompkins County made their way to the ballot boxes to vote in a slate of local elections. These included Ithaca’s mayorship, and two-year and four-year terms for Ithaca’s City Council in all five Wards. For Ithaca’s mayorship, Democratic and Working Families candidate Robert Cantelmo faced off against Republican Janis Kelly. Before running for mayor, Cantelmo served as a council member for the City of Ithaca in the Fifth Ward, and chaired the city administration committee. According to his campaign, Cantelmo plans to focus on addressing the housing crisis in Ithaca, by building permanent supportive housing, promoting home ownership, and simplifying zoning codes. He also plans to increase funding for TCAT. Cantelmo noted that he will apply for a New York State Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant, a state program that will invest one hundred million dollars in ten communities this year.
Despite Ithaca’s Democratic tilt—the city voted for Biden by a margin of more than fifty percent in the 2020 election—Janis Kelly launched a campaign for the mayorship as a Republican. She built her platform around addressing crime, homelessness, and increasing funding for the Ithaca Police Department. In an interview with the Cayuga Radio Group, Kelly, a Cornell graduate, stated “the current city administration has failed,” and argued for “more police, more well-trained, well-supervised police.” However, Kelly’s campaign was defeated by a wide margin, with Cantelmo securing around ninety percent of the vote.
In the Common Council races, the other Republican candidate in this slate of elections, Zach Winn, was also defeated. He had previously launched two unsuccessful campaigns for the mayorship, most recently in 2022 for former Mayor Svante Myrick’s vacated seat.
There were a few close elections in Common Council, including the race between Kayla Matos and Cynthia Brock. Brock had previously represented the First Ward on Common Council for four terms, since 2011, but was defeated earlier this year in the Democratic primary by Matos. Brock ran in the general election as an independent candidate, on the Ithacans for Progress party line. Matos, who was victorious with approximately fifty-four percent of the vote, is a part of the Solidarity Slate, a group of progressive candidates that aims to tackle housing issues in Ithaca, expand TCAT, pass Just Cause labor protections, and create a Civilian Accountability Board for the Ithaca Police Department, among other issues.
Another notable election was the race for the Fourth Ward’s four-year term. Jorge DeFendini, a Solidary Slate candidate, was defeated by Patrick Kuehl, a Cornell University senior who serves on the Cornell Student Assembly. Kuehl’s victory was fueled by write-in votes, and he secured forty-nine votes to DeFendini’s forty. In an interview with The Ithaca Voice, DeFendini called on Kuehl to step down and face him in an “open election.” Kuehl’s campaign was not announced to the public before Election Day.
In the other contested races, Democrat Pierre Saint-Perez defeated Pat Sewell, running on the Community Party line, Democrat Clyde Lederman won against Ithacans for Progress candidate Jason Houghton, and Democrat Margaret Fabrizio defeated Working Families candidate Michelle Song. The Solidarity Slate did gain ground in these elections, with two out of three of their candidates securing a place on City Council, and it is possible that DeFendini may also secure a place on the Council if Kuehl steps down or agrees to face DeFendini in a second election. More information about Kuehl’s controversial write-in campaign is still emerging, and he won by just nine votes in an election with one hundred votes. Regardless of the result of this dispute, Ithaca’s City Council will remain solidly Democratic, with no Republicans winning races this year. Voters can likely expect a strong focus on housing issues, the Make Cornell Pay movement, and the Ithaca Green New Deal.