Ben Walsh

Ben Walsh (born 1979) is an American politician serving as the 54th and current Mayor of Syracuse, New York. Walsh took office on January 1, 2018 as the first independent mayor in the city's history and the second without major party support after Louis Will in 1913.[1]

Ben Walsh
54th Mayor of Syracuse
Incumbent
Assumed office January 1, 2018
Preceded by	Stephanie Miner
Personal details
Born	1979 (age 41–42) Syracuse, New York, U.S.
Political party	Independent
Other political affiliations	Independence Reform
Spouse(s)	Lindsay
Relations	William F. Walsh (grandfather) James T. Walsh (father)
Children	2
Education	Ithaca College (BA) Syracuse University (MPA)
Occupation	Politician

Early life and education

He is the son of former congressman James T. Walsh and grandson of former congressman and mayor William F. Walsh, both of whom were Republicans.[2]

Walsh grew up one of three children in the Strathmore neighborhood. His family moved outside the city when he was in middle school. He graduated from Westhill High School in 1997 and attended Ithaca College. After college, he spent a summer doing construction for Laborers Local 633, working on projects around Onondaga Lake. From there, he got an office job in Albany, as part of the political actions staff for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. He returned to Syracuse in 2002 to run his father's congressional campaign.[3]

Career

Prior to being mayor of Syracuse, Walsh was the deputy commissioner of the city's department of neighborhood and business development under previous mayor Stephanie Miner where he created the Syracuse Land Bank and was part of the redevelopment of the Hotel Syracuse. He also worked for the Metropolitan Development Association, a precursor to CenterState CEO. He also served on several boards and community groups, including as president of the Gifford Foundation board.[4]

When he chose to run for mayor of Syracuse in 2017, Walsh did so on two minor party lines, the Independence Party of New York and Reform Party of New York State. In what was generally seen as an upset, Ben Walsh defeated Democratic Party frontrunner Juanita Perez Williams.[5] He won the election with 54% of the vote in what was a five candidate race involving candidates from both major parties as well as the Green and Working Families Parties.

Removal of Christopher Columbus statue

In the middle of Syracuse's COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 and without a public hearing, Walsh announced he was removing the statue of Christopher Columbus from Syracuse's Columbus Circle and renaming the circle.[6] The statue was erected in 1934.[6]

Electoral history

2017 Syracuse mayoral general election[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independence	Ben Walsh	12,351	48.38%
	Reform/Upstate Jobs	Ben Walsh	1,233	4.83%
	Total	Ben Walsh	13,584	53.21%
	Democratic	Juanita Perez Williams	9,701	38.00%
	Green	Howie Hawkins	1,017	4.02%
	Republican	Laura B. Lavine	673	2.64%
	Working Families	Joe Nicoletti	305	1.19%
	Write-in		25	0.10%
Total votes			25,555	100%
	Independence gain from Democratic

References

1. Michelle Breidenbach (November 8, 2017). "Ben Walsh is second Syracuse mayor in history to win without a major-party line". syracuse.com. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
2. Baker, Chris (2017-12-28). "Ben Walsh: Born into political royalty, but took roundabout path to mayor's office". syracuse.com. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
3. Chris Baker (October 11, 2017). "Ben Walsh walks tightrope, balancing Republican name while luring Democrats". syracuse.com. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
4. Chris Baker (December 28, 2017). "Ben Walsh: Born into political royalty, but took roundabout path to mayor's office". syracuse.com. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
5. Julie McMahon (November 8, 2018). "Ben Walsh elected Syracuse mayor". syracuse.com. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
6. Baker, Chris. "Walsh to remove Syracuse's Columbus statue, rename downtown circle". Syracuse.com. Syracuse.com. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
7. "The Election Book: Onondaga County Board of Elections, 2017 General Election" (PDF). Onondaga County, New York. December 18, 2017. pp. 57–60. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 27, 2018.

External links

• Biography on Syracuse website
• Profile on Walsh from The Post-Standard