Len Morrell, a local businessman and radio personality, has become the second Monroe County Republican to announce plans to challenge a sitting, first-term Democratic state Senator.
This week, Morell announced his candidacy for the Senate seat currently held by Democrat Samra Brouk. Last week, former Gates Police Chief Jim VanBrederode announced his campaign for the seat held by Democrat Jeremy Cooney. Brouk and Cooney were first elected in 2020 and were among the wave of Democrats who shored up their party’s majority in the Senate. Both are seeking reelection.
“This election is about making our neighborhoods safer, more affordable, and improved so all may have a path forward in our state,” Morrell said in a news release. “I am running because I love New York. For far too long, Albany politicians have put special interests and law-breakers ahead of hardworking, law-abiding taxpayers in our state. I will put the people first when I am your state Senator.”
Morrell is a longtime local businessman who founded auto parts fabricator Morrell Manufacturing and real estate development firm LCM Manufacturing. He also hosts the Len Morrell Show on WHAM-1180, which is also home to conservative talk show hosts Bob Lonsberry and Shannon Joy.
Brouk currently represents the 55th District, which stretches from Irondequoit, through the eastern half of the city and eastern Monroe County suburbs except Webster, down into Ontario County.
Under new maps recently pushed through the Legislature by Democratic leaders, it would become the 56th District and would still start in Irondequoit, but it would now include Webster and a larger portion of the city’s eastern half, while ending at the Monroe County border in Pittsford and Perinton. Ontario County would no longer be part of the district.
Cooney currently represents the old 56th District, which includes Hamlin, Clarkson, Greece, Gates, Brighton, and much of the city’s western half. That district would become the 57th and it would cover Greece, Gates, Brighton, and the western half of the city, including the Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport.
Republicans are suing to get the maps struck down.
