Voters Appear To Reject Powerful Assembly Transportation Chair Bill Magnarelli For DSA’s Mo Brown
Mo Brown, mo’ street safety?
Assembly Member and DoorDash-backed Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Magnarelli (D-Geddes) appears to have lost his re-election bid to Onondaga County Legislator Mo Brown, a Democratic Socialist who the backing of the Working Families Party and campaigned on improving sustainable transit and transportation modes.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the race for the 129th Assembly District remains too close to definitively call: Brown has 3,365 votes (or 50.57 percent) to Magnarelli’s 3,283 votes (49.34 percent) — a margin of just 82 votes, according to the Onondaga County Board of Elections.
The state Board of Elections website had slightly different vote figures, but with Brown still holding an 82-vote lead
Neither candidate has declared victory or conceded, but Brown told supporters on Tuesday night that his performance sent a strong message.
“We are tired of politics as usual,” Brown said. “We are going to do better.”
If Brown ends up winning, it is because he is “committed to fighting for increased funding for Centro, the region’s public-transit system, to extend routes and enhance service, and for major upgrades to the city’s bike infrastructure, with an emphasis on more protected lanes,” according to StreetsPAC, the livable streets political action committee that endorsed Brown. “He hopes to expand the city’s scooter-share program to the entirety of Onondaga County before he leaves his current position.”
Brown gets around the district on his e-bike and opposes a state proposal to require licensing and registration for currently legal e-bikes.
Meanwhile, Magnarelli’s record on transportation is considered poor by many advocates. He raised concerns about the Stop Super Speeders Act, which failed to gain traction in the Assembly prior to Gov. Hochul’s support in this year’s budget.
And Magnarelli was also interested in further regulation of e-bikes despite mass confusion around their existence and a disastrous bill passed in New Jersey, which treats the devices as cars, essentially, that served as a warning to the cycling community of what could happen if lawmakers approach the issue incorrectly.
And he has faced allegations that he is a chief impediment to street safety legislation in Albany.
Magnarelli tried to level the playing field in a time-honored manner.
DoorDash made some mammoth ad buys through front group Local Economies Forward NY, spending $154,740 on mail, print and digital ads for Magnarelli, a shocking cash injection for an upstate race and for a candidate (Magnarelli) who hasn’t always been on the company’s side. But his loss would contribute to a growing socialist wing in Albany that has advocated for better rights and working conditions for delivery people working for the tech giant.
Magnarelli’s imperiled reelection campaign came after he had to ramp up his operation after years without an opponent. And his primary challenger, Brown, chose to run at a time when the progressive power in Syracuse and the surrounding areas is at an all-time high.
Assembly Member Pamela Hunter (D-Syracuse) has a firm grip on the 128th Assembly District and sponsored “good cause” eviction legislation that prohibits evictions without a tangible reason and places guidelines on rental increases (it passed in the 2024 budget). That housing bill was viewed as downright Communist by members of the business and real estate community.
Meanwhile, in the overlapping 48th state Senate District, Sen. Rachel May (D-Syracuse) launched her career with a grassroots campaign that took down David Valesky, who had notoriously been a part of the Independent Democratic Conference, a group of Democrats who joined Senate Republicans to wrest control of the chamber from their own party. May is viewed as a progressive champion and is on the forefront of climate change organizing as well as other left-wing pressure points.
Politics trend even more progressive in local Syracuse politics.
Syracuse Mayor Sharon Owens was endorsed by the New York Working Families Party when she won her Democratic primary in 2025. Her opponent, then Common Council President Pat Hogan, relied on establishment Democrat support from the city and county parties during his unsuccessful run.
The Common Council also counts Hannah Ehrenreich, a self-described Democratic Socialist as a council member at large, and progressives like Corey Williams and Jimmy Monto also serve on the legislative body representing Districts 3 and 5.
What’s next?
Onondaga County Democratic Board of Elections Commissioner Dustin Czarny told Streetsblog how the process will play out: The Board of Elections has 51 vote-by-mail ballots in hand and another 459 could come in by the end of Wednesday. Affidavit ballots, a type of ballot used when a voter’s name is not listed at their polling place for some reason, have not been counted yet, he added. It could be days, if not longer, before a victor is named.
The absentee votes that Magnarelli is relying on to pull out a victory have been trending his way, though. He received 289 absentee votes compared to Brown’s 120 absentee votes. That trend will have to continue for him to force an automatic recount, let alone win and prevent the end of a 28-year tenure in the state Legislature and a 7-year run as transportation chair.
Certified results will be released on July 7, 2026.
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