This story has been updated with further comments from Patrick Kuehl and Alderpersons Tiffany Kumar and George McGonigal.
ITHACA, N.Y.—In what started out as an uncontested race, the fate of incumbent Fourth Ward Alderperson Jorge DeFendini on Ithaca Common Council is unexpectedly at risk.
Cornell University undergraduate and Student Assembly President Patrick Kuehl ran a surprise write-in campaign against DeFendini, leaving a small margin between the two before absentee or affidavit ballots are counted.
Absentee and affidavit ballots may not be counted and finalized until next week. Until then, it’s not clear who will represent the Fourth Ward, which encompasses Collegetown and the area immediately around Cornell University.
Preliminary results show DeFendini with 28 votes, or 70% of the ballots counted so far in the notoriously low-turnout Fourth Ward. As of election night, there were 12 reported write-in ballots, which constitutes 30% of the total votes so far. It’s not clear yet how many of those write-in votes were for Kuehl.
There were also 38 affidavit ballots cast on election day in the Fourth Ward, according to officials at the Tompkins County Board of Elections. Between the write-in ballots and affidavit votes, the door is still wide open for Kuehl to unseat DeFendini, a member of the progressive Solidarity Slate.
Kuehl said he was asked to run over concerns about the Solidarity Slate’s presence on Common Council and the way Slate leadership has dealt with challengers.
“I had no intention of running initially, but as it became clear to me that there were no other options at the current time, I agreed to be the candidate knowing that my future in Ithaca is uncertain,” Kuehl said. “I have made that abundantly clear to both those involved with the campaign and the community members I have talked to throughout this process.”
Kuehl, who said he has been open about the fact that he may not remain in Ithaca after his graduation in six months, notably opted to run the write-in campaign for DeFendini’s four-year seat rather than Kumar’s two-year seat.
Kuehl said that Kumar and outgoing councilmember George McGonigal were among his supporters and helped his campaign.
“I think that Tiffany, George, other current and former members of council and prominent community members that supported my campaign can speak for themselves on their reasoning for getting involved,” Kuehl said.
Kuehl did not specify who asked him to run in the election. McGonigal has been outwardly critical of the Slate and its policy positions before.
McGonigal said while he knew about the write-in effort the night before election day he wouldn’t consider himself part of Kuehl’s campaign. Kumar said she knew about the challenge but “didn’t endorse” it, and added she is “glad there is a democratic process of more than one candidate.”
Kumar began her campaign in 2022 as part of the Slate, but lost the endorsement after an unspecified incident just before the general election. Both Slate leadership and Kumar have long declined to speak publicly about the situation since the endorsement was withdrawn.
In his emailed statement, Kuehl criticized DeFendini and the rest of the Solidarity Slate as out of touch because they were not aware of his write-in campaign. There were multiple other non-Slate councilmembers who told The Ithaca Voice they were “blindsided” by Kuehl’s write-in campaign.
Kuehl also rebuffed criticisms of his campaign and defended his decision not to run a more conventional campaign, which could have included public appearances or a website.
“Just because I did not talk to the press, have a website or post on Twitter does not make my campaign ‘subversive’ or ‘slimy’,” Kuehl said.
The Ithaca Voice obtained a copy of a flier distributed by campaign volunteers in the Fourth Ward instructing voters to cast a vote for Patrick Kuehl as a write-in candidate against DeFendini. The Kuehl fliers do not list a campaign or funder.
Volunteers also gave instructions to would-be voters on how to cast an affidavit ballot, which allows people to vote when their information may not appear in the voter logs, such as voters who haven’t updated their residency information.
DeFendini and his supporters appeared shocked at a Solidarity Slate election night event. He said they were still monitoring results and that regardless of the outcome, he “would not be going anywhere” would remain involved in local politics either way.
A flier instructing voters how to file affidavit ballots, paid for by Clyde Lederman’s campaign. Lederman maintains his fliers are not connected to the fliers in support of Patrick Kuehl’s write-in campaign.
Kuehl worked as an emergency dispatcher and EMS with Bangs Ambulance for two years. He was briefly involved in last fall’s union effort before he separated from the company. He did not respond to multiple calls or texts requesting comment.
The Ithaca Voice also obtained other fliers, which were being handed out at polling locations, instructing voters how to cast an affidavit ballot. The bottom of the affidavit ballot fliers state that they are “Paid for by Clyde for Ithaca,” indicating they stem from Clyde Lederman, a Fifth Ward candidate for Common Council.
The fliers have a similar color scheme to the pro-Kuehl fliers and may have been distributed near a Fourth Ward poll site on Cornell’s campus, which further fueled suspicions about Lederman’s connections to the write-in effort.
Lederman, also a Cornell student, denied any involvement in the pro-Kuehl fliers. He said his campaign prepared the affidavit instruction fliers because some supporters had reported issues casting their ballot, and that the two efforts were not connected. Lederman is also involved in a close election, trailing Jason Houghton for the Fifth Ward’s two-year seat.
Genevieve Rand, an organizer for the Solidarity Slate, criticized the surprise campaign on social media, calling it a “really slimy attempt to subvert democracy” and an “exploit[ation] of election law” because Kuehl did not openly campaign until the day of the election.
“I do not know how long I will remain in Ithaca, but I hope that regardless of the outcome, this election will pave the way for alternative perspectives that work towards bringing our community together moving forward,” Kuehl said.
Kuehl is not the first candidate to run a write-in campaign with a real shot at victory. Tompkins County Legislator Rich John and Ithaca City School District Board of Education member Erin Croyle both secured their spots via write-in campaigns locally in recent memory, among others.
Readers can review the preliminary election night results here.
Ithaca Voice reporters Jimmy Jordan and Judy Lucas contributed to this story.
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Editor’s Note: Due to an editing error, the word “shrewd” was left in a quote attributed to Patrick Kuehl improperly. While Kuehl initially used that word, he rescinded that specific part of his quote before publication.