One way or another, City Council was going to have some new faces on it come the start of 2022. City Council President Loretta Scott decided not to seek reelection as did Council member Malik Evans, who ran for mayor instead.
There are five at-large City Council seats up for grabs, and the three incumbents who were seeking the Democratic line won, meaning there were no major upsets Tuesday night.
Willie Lightfoot, a fixture of local Democratic politics, led with almost 13% of the vote, while Mitch Gruber pulled in just over 11% and Miguel Melendez received slightly more than 8%, according to unofficial results from the Monroe County Board of Elections.
The remaining two ballot lines will, according to unofficial results, go to Stanley Martin and Kim Smith, both activists who ran as part of the reform-minded People’s Slate. Martin, an organizer with Free the People Roc who rose to prominence last year during Black Lives Matter demonstrations the group organized, and Smith, a statewide organizer with VOCAL-NY, each received roughly 8% of the vote.
Typically, the candidates that win Democratic primaries go on to prevail in the general election. But the victors in Tuesday’s election will face challengers come November. Ann Lewis, Jayvon Johnson, and Marcus Williams are all running on the Republican and Conservative lines. And though they didn’t win the primary, Democrats Victor Sanchez and Jasmin Reggler will still appear on the November ballot on the Working Families Party line.
Tuesday’s results could ultimately lead to a new dynamic on City Council, especially considering the strong likelihood that the members will be working with a new mayor, Malik Evans. Lightfoot, who is currently Council’s vice president, has been a supporter and ally of Mayor Lovely Warren, but he also has a record of working with other elected officials when they have a common goal.
Martin and Smith will likely be closely aligned with East District Council member Mary Lupien and all three have called for funding to be diverted from the Rochester Police Department into community organizations and mental health services.
Lupien, as well as Gruber, voted against Warren’s 2021-22 budget stating that it didn’t go far enough to reinvest city funds from the Rochester Police Department into other programs and services.
Jeremy Moule is CITY's news editor. He can be reached at jmoule@rochester-citynews.com.