As the race for mayor fills out in Syracuse, one potential candidate continues to wait in the wings. A group of citizens is campaigning for Juanita Perez Williams, although she has yet to announce her intentions.
The committee called “We Need Juanita” has been raising money and awareness about Williams since last fall. Mel Mennan, from Syracuse, has been part of the movement from the start.
“It's a word of mouth movement that’s just grown and grown and grown," Mennan says.
She believes the group is hitting its stride, evidenced, she says, by a poll of Syracuse Democrats. The poll, commissioned by the independent committee, puts Williams at the top of a list of prospective Democratic primary opponents. Williams picked up more than 36 percent in the poll, with 25 percent of those polled still undecided.
The grassroots committee can only urge candidates to run, and by law Williams can’t have anything to do with it. If Williams decides to run, she’ll have to leave her job in the State Labor Department. Mennan says the idea is to get enough critical mass to make that palatable, while not really talking to the potential candidate.
“We’re obviously trying to encourage her,” Mennan says. “So there’s sort of a level of awareness and there’s us, sort of trying to tailor our message so she understands what kind of support she really does have in the community."
“We Need Juanita” has raised around $20,000 so far, which they’re using for advertising and polling.
Mennan expects Williams to make a decision in late March. There are already three Democrats vying for party support to run for the open mayoral seat: City Innovation Director Andrew Maxwell; Alphonso Davis, who’s run for mayor two times before; and City Auditor Marty Masterpole.
