Recent News

Rachel May emerged as the winner of the Democratic primary for the 53rd District state Senate seat today.

May defeated incumbent Dave Valesky, who has held the Senate seat for 14 years. May is the first Democrat to challenge Valesky in a primary.

Following a night of astounding upsets for former members of the now-defunct state Senate Independent Democratic conference, four of the six incumbents who lost their contests appear not to have conceded defeat or congratulated the candidates who beat them.

State Sen. David Valesky has not conceded in his 53rd Senate District race against educator and activist Rachel May…

In Thursday’s primaries, the turncoat “Democrats” of the Independent Democratic Conference, who have handed Republicans control of New York’s state Senate for years, are getting utterly demolished as primary voters reject them in favor of progressive challengers who believe in the radical notion that a state as blue as New York should actually be run by Democrats.

Across the country, Democratic Party primaries have generated a lot of attention, enthusiasm and some surprising results. Primaries in New York have figured in this trend. This week, host Grant Reeher moderates a debate between the two candidates vying for the Democratic nomination in central New York’s 53rd state Senate district, incumbent Sen. Dave Valesky and challenger Rachel May.

Valesky, D-Oneida, will face a Democratic opponent for the first time in his 14 years in office as Syracuse University administrator Rachel May attempts to pull off an upset in the state’s Sept. 13 primary election.

A group of New York State Senate Democrats that aligned with Republicans is refusing to return hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of contributions, mostly from corporations and PACs, that the state Supreme Court ruled illegal in June.