Democrat Samra Brouk has been elected to a second term representing the state Senate’s 55th District, which covers Irondequoit, Webster, Penfield, Pittsford, Perinton, East Rochester, and part of Rochester.
Brouk pulled in 58% of the vote, according to unofficial results from the Monroe County Board of Elections. Her opponent, Penfield businessman Len Morrell, received 42% of the votes. Brouk declared victory early Wednesday morning.
Brouk, who lives in the city’s Park Avenue neighborhood, won in 2020 by a wide margin and this year ran in a redrawn district that’s friendlier to Democrats than its prior version.
As she declared victory early Wednesday, Brouk said she believes many local voters were focused on national issues, and Democratic victories reflected that.
"What was on the ballot was our right to bodily autonomy, truly our democracy and being able to protect it," Brouk said. "People really understood that."
During the past legislative session, lawmakers passed a Brouk-sponsored measure that is intended to improve maternal mental health screenings. Maternal and mental health have been key focuses of Brouk’s, and the measure combined both. She’s called for the state to increase child care funding and supported a package of gun law reforms signed by the governor in June and a package of laws meant to protect women’s access to abortion.
She faced a challenge from Penfield Republican Len Morrell who founded Morrell Manufacturing, a maker of precision engineered products for the automotive industry. He also founded a Christian concert venue, Worship Warehouse, and a company that owns and leases commercial and residential real estate, LCM Properties.
Throughout his campaign, Morrell has denounced the rise of violent crime in the city and has called for the repeal of the state’s bail reform laws, which is one of the new state policies he blames for the increase. He has also said that the State Legislature needs to act to lower the cost of living and doing business in the state, as well as fix an educational system that is “failing” students.
