By Zach Zeliff by Alex Lawson
When the Post-Standard’s Editorial Board declined to endorse either Mo Brown or Shawn Fiato in the race for the 129th Assembly District, they revealed how little they actually care about voters. The problem wasn’t the non-endorsement itself. That’s fine, they don’t have to endorse anyone, and while we disagree with their assessment that Brown’s policy positions are beyond the pale because he thinks government should help people, we respect their right to that opinion.
The problem was that the Editorial Board is pretty obviously mad that the Democratic voters in the 129th Assembly District forced them to engage with Mo Brown as a candidate in the general election. Here’s how they characterized the Brown’s victory over 28-year incumbent Bill Magnarelli in the primary election:
“He was not supposed to be the Democratic Party nominee, but a combination of low voter turnout and highly motivated supporters carried him to a narrow primary victory over Magnarelli, 50% to 48.5%.”
First off, let’s dispense with the factual claim being made here. This was not a low-turnout election. It was instead the highest turnout non-presidential local primary we have seen for some time. We actually checked with the Onondaga County Board of Elections, and here are the stats of eligible voters turned out in primaries in the last 3 years:
2024 22nd Congressional Democratic Primary: 13.4%
2025 Mayoral Democratic Primary: 19.8%
2026 129th Assembly Democratic Primary: 24.0%
Maybe the Editorial Board doesn’t understand that this is just how primary elections go—the Democratic primary for an Assembly District in an off-year is not going to have the same voter participation as a presidential election—but if they have a problem with this level of voter turnout, then they should be applauding Brown for engaging his “highly motivated supporters” to participate in the democratic process. Instead, they imply that there’s something kind of icky about people caring too much when they cast their votes.
But beyond that, what do they mean Mo Brown wasn’t “supposed to” win that election? No one is ‘supposed to’ win any election besides the candidate that gets the most votes. That’s what makes it an election. There isn’t some other standard by which to determine who the community chooses to send to Albany or Washington DC or City Hall or to any other level of government. That’s what makes America a democracy.
Mo Brown is the Democratic candidate in this race because more people voted for him in the Democratic Primary, and if the Post-Standard Editorial Board has a problem with that, they can kick rocks.
