For many voters going to the ballot box, choosing a candidate can be tough. With different candidates and issues on the ballot, it can be hard to figure out who would be the best representative for the district.
But for 24th Congressional District Democratic nominee Colleen Deacon, the choice was easy.
At the Syracuse Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection on East Avenue, Deacon cast her vote in a rundown gymnasium on the final day of her campaign. Standing at the half court line with 20 other voters who had shown up just before 8 a.m., Deacon filled out her ballot in a couple of minutes at one of the voting booths. Deacon has been running for the New York 24th district for the past year against Rep. John Katko, the Republican incumbent. Deacon and Katko have battled on issues like immigration, abortion rights, health care and gun rights. With Katko holding a strong lead in the last two weeks of the election, Deacon has been working hard in the final stretch of the campaign to try and close the gap.
“I feel really good, we have really run a good campaign, built a good infrastructure during the primary that we just built on top of and we have a really good campaign team out,” said Deacon.
It has been an eventful year for Deacon on the campaign trail. She has spent her campaign trying to get to know the voters, focusing on issues that people have talked to her about. Deacon has spent the last four days doing television interviews, calling homes and going door to door to talk. Today she visits the Syracuse Dunbar Center for an election breakfast, Our Lady of Pompeii for a spaghetti luncheon, a chicken and biscuit event and then will meet with campaign staff before watching the election results tonight.
“We get invited to events and three events at one time and we want to be in every place at every time. I wish there was an opportunity for me to clone myself and be everywhere at every time, but I feel like we ran a really good campaign,” said Deacon.
Running a campaign takes a lot of effort and can consume most of your time. Come tomorrow, all the events and campaigning will come to a stop. For Deacon, all she can do now is wait and take advantage of the fact that she no longer has to run a massive campaign.
“Well, if I win tonight it will be very fun and then tomorrow I will sleep to get a little bit of rest,” said Deacon.
Democracy in Action in an Election Day project of the student journalists of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.
