ITHACA, N.Y.—Now that the independent petition deadline has passed, Ithacans know who will be on their ballot for a one-year term as Ithaca mayor in November 2022.
Democrat incumbent Laura Lewis, Republican Zachary Winn and independent Katie Sims will all be listed on the ballot in November after Sims submitted enough signatures to enter the race as a third-party candidate on May 31.
Sims, a 2020 Cornell graduate, is the latest candidate to declare, but isn’t a stranger to local matters. She was up for selection to Common Council last fall to replace Stephen Smith representing the Fourth Ward, but lost out to fellow Cornell student Patrick Mehler. Regardless, Sims did work on the city’s Redistricting Working Group to draw up the recently accepted new ward maps.
The briefer-than-usual term is a result of former Mayor Svante Myrick’s resignation in January to join People for the American Way, as the winner will only be in office to finish out what’s left of his term. There will be another election held in November 2023 to determine who will be the next full-term mayor. The wild card in that election will be whether or not a city manager plan has been approved by then, a decision that will be made by voters at the same time they’re voting on who will finish Myrick’s term. A city manager wouldn’t be in place until 2024 if approved.
There will be a little extra spice to the election outside of the three candidates listed on the ballot, though: William “Magic Man” Metro will be running as a write-in candidate after failing to gather enough signatures to qualify for an independent run. Metro had actually been on the ballot as a Republican, but his signatures were challenged by Winn. Enough of them were thrown out to bring Metro under the necessary threshold to be on the ballot as a Republican.
It’s unclear if anyone else will mount a write-in campaign.