Stephanie A. Miner

Stephanie Miner

Democratic

BACKGROUND: Miner, 48, of Syracuse, is the former two-term mayor of Syracuse until term limits ended her run. She was courted by some Democrats to challenge Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in a primary and by some Republicans to seek the GOP line, but instead chose to run on the fledgling Serve America Movement. Miner said one of her first jobs was working for former Gov. Mario Cuomo, who she credits as a political Socrates whose teachings have guided her public life. She graduated from Syracuse University and University at Buffalo Law School. She worked in private practice until she first ran for mayor in 2009 and became the city’s first woman mayor. She is married. 

ISSUES: In 2013 Miner shocked Democrats by writing an opinion piece in The New York Times that was critical of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s proposal to reform the state pension system. Miner felt it would hurt taxpayers by allowing borrowing by local governments. That was the first of several confrontations she had with the governor who had once appointed her co-chairwoman of the state Democratic Committee. Miner’s focus has long been on corruption in Albany. One of the cases that resulted in federal convictions was an economic development project from the Cuomo administration in Onondaga County, outside Syracuse, where federal prosecutors focused on two major Central New York developers who were convicted of wire fraud and conspiracy and two former Cuomo aides convicted on corruption charges. Her campaign is also focused on providing more state aid to improve the state’s infrastructure to boost the economy, to make state spending more accountable, and to provide affordable housing statewide while combating growing homelessness.