Democratic candidate Hannah Shvets ’27 proved triumphant after her Nov. 5 election victory in being elected to the Ithaca Common Council, representing the Fifth Ward. Receiving 64.12 percent of the votes in Ward 5, Hannah became the youngest socialist elected in the party’s history, according to Cornell Young Democratic Socialist Association.
Ithaca’s Fifth Ward consists of two communities and comprises Cornell’s North Campus, Collegetown and Cornell Heights, including Cornell students and local Ithaca residents — both of which Shvets personally identifies with, as an Ithaca-native and student in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
“I thought it'd be good to bring together locals, longtime Ithacans and students,” Shvets said, ”And since I'm a part of both these communities, I thought it would be a good opportunity to do that.”
Shvets recently made national news as an article by the New York Post voiced criticism about her being a publicly registered member of the Communist Party USA.
According to Shvets, specific titles or ideological perspectives should not be the main concern for her serving on the Common Council. She reinforces that she is openly devoted to the policies she campaigned on, like affordable housing, climate action and labor protections.
“I don’t feel the need to argue over specific ideologies,” Shvets said. “I think we are all working towards the same goal.”
Politics first piqued Shvet’s interest in middle school, when she noticed her teachers being both underpaid and overworked, inspiring her to get involved with a teacher’s union and informing her views on affordable housing and worker rights.
As part of her campaign promise — “for a more affordable and just Ithaca” — Shvets believes that people who work in Ithaca should be able to live in Ithaca. Her zoning policy calls for removing parking requirements to make room for denser, more affordable housing.
“[Shvets is] extremely dedicated, extremely committed to the movement, committed to the things our chapter has done both in the past and during her campaign,” said Delphi Lyra ’28, co-president of Cornell Young Democratic Socialists of America.
On campus, Shvets is heavily involved with Cornell YDSA. Cornell YDSA took on Shvets’ campaign as a chapter priority, prioritizing “relational organizing” by getting volunteers, reaching out to voters, flyering, tabling and creating a meaningful relationship with voters, according to Lyra.
“I give a lot of credit to Hannah herself,” Lyra said. “She's someone who's already extremely involved in the Ithaca political scene, and her ability to be at every single event, rally [and] Common Council meeting downtown was extremely helpful and successful in creating these relationships.”
In addition to her on-campus involvement, Shvets’ campaign was also organized with local organizations.
Nick Wahlers, the elections director for Run on Climate — an organization that endorsed Shvets and helps get candidates who support climate policy elected — said that the organization chose to endorse Shvets because it believed that she would prioritize issues relating to both environmental concerns and affordability.
“She’s clearly so passionate about housing and climate that she recognizes that there is so much overlap, and if it can be done right, people are not going to be priced out,” Wahlers said.
Shvets’ opponent in the Ithaca Common Council election for the Fifth Ward, G.P. Zurenda, criticized her envisioned priorities, stating they function more as a “wishlist” than concrete realistic proposals. Shvets said people commonly respond to progressive policies by calling them “unrealistic,” and that Zurenda’s comment is just another example of this.
“People who push for progressive change are told that it’s a wishlist … [when] we’re fighting for very basic standards,” Shvets said.
By the end of her term on the Common Council, Shvets hopes to achieve her campaign priorities and adequately represent everyone in Ithaca and in her ward.
Shvets said that she keeps her email open to all and meets with everyone she can to maintain a regular stream of communication with constituents. She also hopes to host regular town hall meetings where people can come and express their interests or concerns about Ithaca.
“In the end, I do believe in equality and I don't know exactly how that's going to look and how it's going to be structured,” Shvets said. “I am not attached to a specific system for achieving that, but I just believe in a world that prioritizes people having their basic needs met.”
Kaitlyn Recchiuti is a member of the Class of 2029 in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She is a contributor for the News department and can be reached at kcr59@cornell.edu.
