Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4. Early voting begins Saturday, Oct. 25, and goes until Saturday, Nov. 2. Here are the races to watch.
Ward 5
After narrowly clinching the Democratic primary for Ward 5 Common Council alderperson in July, Hannah Shvets ’27 will now face her former challenger Gepe Zurenda ’88 on Nov. 4. Zurenda runs as an Independent under the Affordable Ithaca Party — a party of his own creation.
The race for the Democratic seat was decided by just 22 remaining affidavits and mail-in ballots, according to Stephen DeWitt, Democratic commissioner for the Tompkins County Board of Elections. Shvets, who had won 40.49 percent of the votes, beat out Zurenda, who took 33.47 percent of the Democratic primary votes.
However, in primary elections this year, only around 5.46 percent of registered voters in Tompkins County cast ballots. A total of 143 ballots were cast for the Ward 5 alderperson democratic primaries, as compared to Ward 3 and Ward 1, which had upwards of 600 votes each.
Both Shvets and Zurenda are focusing their campaigns on the issue of Ithaca’s tax imbalance, aiming to expand affordable housing by curbing tax increases. If elected, Zurenda plans to address this issue by proposing zoning reforms that support current homeowners and by implementing tax-abatement programs targeted at existing housing stock.
In order to combat the city-wide housing affordability issues, Zurenda said to The Sun that he will “stop giving tax abatements to large developers, many of whom are from out of town and [establishing] tax abatements for people that own the current housing stock.”
Shvets’ campaign emphasizes the need to strengthen rent stabilization, expand affordable housing options and eliminate single-family zoning to encourage the construction of apartments and protect tenant rights.
“I would say my campaign is for a more affordable and just Ithaca — that's my line,” Shvets said to The Sun. “It's not enough to just prioritize cheaper eggs, because that gets us into situations where we're neglecting human rights. And these things always need to be paired together.”
Her campaign also maintains a strong focus on labor rights, advocating for enhanced worker protections in Ithaca and supporting “Just Cause” legislation.
Zurenda has also expressed concern about the role of the operational lead of Ithaca’s transition from Mayor to a city manager and its impact on fiscal oversight, suggesting that large institutions like Cornell should contribute more to the city’s tax base.
Shvets also argues that the relationship between the city and major institutions such as Cornell needs restructuring to better serve both students and long-term residents, noting that the Common Council is underutilized in managing these partnerships.
Ward 1
Republican candidate Zachary Winn, a longtime Ithaca resident and citizen journalist, is facing off against Democratic candidate Jorge DeFendini ’22 for the First Ward seat on the Ithaca Common Council on Nov. 4.
Only 5.89 percent of Ithaca residents are registered Republicans, according to the Tompkins County Board of Elections. The First Ward — which starts west of Meadow St.— claims the highest percentage of Republicans in Ithaca at 7.63 percent.
DeFendini won the Democratic primary nomination with 58.10 percent of the votes, beating out two other candidates. He also previously served on the Common Council from 2021 to 2023. Winn, who has previously unsuccessfully run for Ithaca Mayor and alderperson, is the only Republican running for Common Council.
Both Winn and DeFendini have deemed homelessness and drug use in Ithaca among their top priorities to address if elected.
Winn seeks to address Ithaca’s drug and homeless problems, noting that attempts to address these issues have been “unsuccessful” or even “disastrous” in the past, according to an interview with The Sun.
“I've seen more and more people clearly in distress, homeless living on the street,” Winn said. “The attempts to address these problems have been either unsuccessful or even disastrous, from the Alcohol and Drug Council going under to the detox center failing to actually open.”
During his time on the Common Council, DeFendini focused on diminishing criminalization and encouraging ethical relocation of the unhoused by helping to secure funding for the South Side Community Center.
“It was thanks to working with the tenants’ union, Human Services Coalition, and other members of council to really make that a reality,” DeFendini said.
Winn strives to have more cooperation between the city and the county and, if elected, would dissolve the Memorandum of Understanding between Ithaca and Cornell University — in which Cornell pledged an annual contribution of $4 million to the city in lieu of paying taxes in 2023 — as his first priority.
DeFendini plans to continue working with groups like the Ithaca Democratic Socialists of America and the Ithaca Tenants Union in efforts to advocate for pro-worker rights in Ithaca. Another goal of DeFendini is to continue his 2023 efforts to improve quality of life and housing affordability by stabilizing rents for those who can’t afford them and to ensure building codes are enforced and enough housing is built for the city’s needs.
“I'm an organizer, and we organize on the Council,” DeFendini said. “I would use persuasion, and sometimes we need pressure from public comment and from people speaking up to their representatives to advance that agenda, not just to make my case on the floor or appeal to staff or what have you, it's organizing that gets the job done.”
Cereese Qusba is a member of the Class of 2027 in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is a news editor for the 143rd Editorial Board and can be reached at cqusba@cornellsun.com.
