Miner elected Syracuse mayor

For Syracuse mayor-elect Stephanie Miner, Tuesday night was one dreams are made of.

"To all of you who convince girls to believe in themselves and believe in their dreams, I want to tell you that you have somebody who has profound thanks for that,”  Miner told a crowd of of supporters in her victory speech.

Miner won 50 percent of the vote, becoming the first woman mayor of the city.

Photo: Jenna Ketchmark

City auditor Phil Latessa (left), Counselor at Large candidate Jean Kessner, Commissioner of Education Pat Body and Neil Maffei of Syracuse eagerly wait for the results of the Syracuse mayoral election Tuesday night.

The Democratic and Working Families candidate won half of the 22,438 total votes, according to the Onondaga County Board of Elections.

She beat Republican candidate Steve Kimatian, a former TV executive, and Conservative candidate Otis Jennings, a former Parks, Recreation and Youth Programs commissioner. Kimatian took 39.2 percent of the votes and Jennings claimed 10.3 percent.

Onondaga County Democratic Chairwoman Diane Dwire announced that Miner is the first female mayor of any major city in New York and said this victory will go down in the books.

“You only get to make history once,” Dwire said.

Miner, 39, succeeds Matt Driscoll as the 53rd mayor of Syracuse. Driscoll reached his term limit after serving eight years as mayor, and endorsed Miner in a Sept. 23 news conference. The 1992 Syracuse University graduate leaves her post as Syracuse common councilor at-large, which she held since 2001.

Miner attained the city’s highest office on a platform that showcased her involvement with Say Yes to Education, an initiative that works to send inner-city students to college.

Danyelle Lorraine, a senior political science major at Syracuse University and campaign intern for Miner, said Say Yes is one of the biggest reasons she supports Miner.

“Syracuse is going to be in such great shape with Stephanie,” Lorraine said. “She’s got a lot of great ideas, and she’s going to put them to good use.”

The mayor-elect said it was the volunteers who kept her going during the rough patches of her campaign.

“As I said early on, and as I said on primary night, I have learned firsthand that anything worth doing, you can’t do alone,” Miner said, thanking her family, friends, and supporters.

After the results were in, Miner immediately focused on the work to come in Syracuse.

“I ask each of you to join me,” she said. “And whether you voted for me, or Steve, or Otis, or whether you didn’t vote at all, to join me and us in our real campaign, which starts tomorrow. Our real campaign to make Syracuse a city of justice, a city of peace, and a city of hope for all of its residents.”