There will be no Republican candidates on the ballot for city offices this year, the first time since 2009 that has happened in a mayoral election year.
Three candidates had sought a seat in city government, running on the Republican line — Louis Sabo for mayor, and Marcus C. Williams and Jake Bishop for City Council at-large seats. To secure a ballot spot, candidates must successfully gather a certain number of voter signatures. All three fell short.
“These weren’t even close,” said Peter Elder, Monroe County’s Republican elections commissioner.
The three still plan to run on the Conservative Party line. That party has the lowest number of required signatures for petitioning, at 44.
The barriers for city Republicans are many. But a particular challenge is the GOP’s declining enrollment. Republican numbers have fallen dismally low in the city, where they are outnumbered by Democrats 6:1.
Less than 10% of city residents are registered Republicans as of April, compared with more than 40% in 2000. That makes for a smaller pool of potential candidates and a much more difficult challenge to secure needed petition signatures, which must come from city residents registered with the candidate’s respective party.
For Republicans in the city that number is 537. Williams, Sabo, and Bishop failed to get half that figure, according to Elder. Williams is a perennial candidate and has cleared that threshold in the past. He did not offer an explanation for what happened this year.
Sabo blamed the cold weather, a list of registered Republicans which included people who either no longer lived in the city or were not interested in endorsing Republican candidates, and a shortage of volunteers – adding the party offered little support.
“A lot of it comes to walking door to door, knocking on doors, and we only had four to five people that truly showed up and did that work,” Sabo said. “And that's not enough to cover the whole city and get those signatures with the amount of times that you got to knock on the door to get somebody to answer it.”
Every elected office in Rochester is currently held by a Democrat. And it has been that way for years, which Sabo and Williams blame for a host of city issues, from crime to poverty to housing. But they said finding Republican voices to rally is a near-insurmountable hurdle.
“Many people that are registered Republicans see that there are issues in our city that they would like changed,” Williams said. “The issue is not a lot of people that see the problems are willing to stand up and get active.”
The city’s major general election — when the mayor, all five Council at-large seats, and three school board are up for grabs — happens every four years.
And Republicans have competed in the past. For example, in 2021, three Republicans did make it to the ballot for City Council at-large seats — Williams, Jayvon Johnson and Ann Lewis. None were elected.
The last Republican to run for mayor of Rochester was former county legislator Tony Micciche, who unsuccessfully challenged Lovely Warren in 2017. The last Republican city mayor was Stephen May, who served from 1970 to 1973.
Monroe County Republican Committee chairman Patrick Reily did not respond to a request for comment.
Williams has long been a Conservative critic of City Council and the mayor’s office, with his key issues being city education and public safety. An outspoken critic on both social media and in City Council sessions, he regularly blames Democratic leadership for everything from poverty to crime, often claiming elected officials purposely cause issues for their own benefit.
The lack of a Republican presence in the city has left few alternative voices for representation, Williams said.
“One party rule encourages policies that serve the politicians in office and not the people,” he continued. “It's important to have an alternative voice to counterbalance policies that tend to be not only one-sided, but lopsided and not serving the greater benefit and betterment of the community.”
Four Democratic candidates have filed petitions to run in the June Democratic Primary for mayor: incumbent Mayor Malik Evans, City Councilmember Mary Lupien, businessman Shashi Sinha, minister Clifford Florence. Sixteen candidates have filed to run on the Democratic ticket for City Council seats, and six for the city school board.
The Board of Elections will hear challenges to several of those candidates’ petitions next week.
