User:Arms & Hearts/2017 Syracuse mayoral election

The 2017 mayoral election in Syracuse, New York was held on November 7, 2017, and resulted in the election of Ben Walsh, an independent, to his first term as mayor.

Background
Incumbent mayor Stephanie Miner, a member of the Democratic Party, was first elected in 2009 and was re-elected in 2013, but was term limited in 2017.

Syracuse last elected a Republican Party mayor in 1997, and in the 2013 election Republicans did not field a candidate.

Campaign
Five candidates appeared on the general election ballot: Green Party nominee Howie Hawkins, who had run for office 20 times since 1991; Democratic Party nominee Juanita Perez Williams, the city's former corporation counsel; Independence Party, Reform Party and Upstate Jobs Party nominee Ben Walsh, a business development director and the son of U.S. Representative James T. Walsh; Republican nominee Laura Lavine, a former Lafayette School District superintendent; and Working Families Party nominee Joe Nicoletti, who remained on the Working Families party line after unsuccessfully seeking the Democratic nomination and did not campaign. City auditor Martin Masterpole also sought the Democratic nomination.

Results

 * Democratic primary
 * Juanita Perez Williams – 4,421 (51.72%)
 * Joe Nicoletti – 2,958 (34.60%)
 * Martin Masterpole – 828 (9.69%)
 * Write-in votes – 341 (3.99%)


 * General election
 * Ben Walsh – 13,584 (53.21%)
 * Independence Party – 12,351 (48.38%)
 * Reform and Upstate Jobs parties – 1,233 (4.83%)
 * Juanita Perez Williams (Democratic Party) – 9,701 (38.00%)
 * Howie Hawkins (Green Party) – 1,017 (3.98%)
 * Laura B. Lavine (Republican Party) – 673 (2.64%)
 * Joe Nicoletti (Working Families Party) – 305 (1.19%)
 * Write-in votes – 25 (0.10%)