The Democrats on the Onondaga County Legislature will have a supermajority following the voting on Election Day.
Nicole Watts, the legislature's chairwoman, made that announcement while addressing supporters at the Mizpah in downtown Syracuse where Democrats had gathered for an election night watch party.
After midnight Wednesday, data from the Onondaga County Board of Elections indicated Democrats would have 14 seats on the 17-seat legislature.
Holding a microphone and speaking to an enthusiastic crowd, Watts said,
"It is my pleasure to announce that we are officially a supermajority in the county legislature," she said as the crowd roared with approval.
Watts later spoke with WRVO Public Media and said she wasn't surprised with the outcome because people locally just aren't happy with the Republican party.
"And the leadership that is especially federally but all the way down into our local communities, and so I expected that we would end up in this place but there is nothing quite like having it be finalized. It's a very exciting moment," she said
She also went on to explain what it means to have a supermajority in the Onondaga County Legislature.
"One of the key factors is that it makes us veto proof, which means that when we pass a law or any kind of legislation that if the executive branch chooses to veto it, we have the actual option to have the confidence that we can override that veto, so that's one the key factors that comes with it," she said in the interview with WRVO Public Media.
Onondaga County Republicans held their watch party at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Syracuse Destiny USA. County legislator Richard McCarron — who lost in his bid to defeat the incumbent Rachel May in the race for State Senate — told supporters that the GOP lost bad on Tuesday night.
"I just want to say to everybody in this room thank you. Tonight certainly did not turn out the way that we all hoped it would. The reality of it is ... we took an old fashioned shellacking tonight," he said.
As of early Wednesday, Democrats claimed victory in 13 of 17 county legislature races. One is still too close to call. Incumbent Republican Cody Kelly trails Democrat Jessica Dapson by just 99 votes.
