The House of Representatives heads back into session in Washington today. It’ll be the second year for central New York Rep. Brandon Williams (R-Sennett). Williams admits it took him a while to get his feet wet in his first year on Capitol Hill.
"You know, I went in with my campaign team until I could get oriented, and once we did that then I had a much better sense of what to do, and what I needed to be successful in the role," Williams said.
(Listen to our full interview with Rep. Brandon Williams)
Williams’ staff had the third highest turnover rate in the House, according to a nonpartisan analysis, losing almost half of his original staff in his first eight months in office. He said things are stabilized now.
Looking ahead, Williams, who describes himself as a practical Conservative, said he won’t support any government shutdowns as budget battles loom and hopes to continue to advocate for common sense energy policy.
From a more local perspective, he expects to be involved in moving the Micron and 81 projects ahead, and spend more time in the 22nd district, which covers all of Onondaga, Madison and Oneida counties, and a small portion of Oswego County. He points out that in 2023, Congress spent a record number of days in session.
"And that takes you out of the district," Williams said. "I tell my staff all the time is that there's nobody in DC that can vote for me. Everybody is back in central New York in the Mohawk Valley. And so spending more time in the district is what I would like to do. And I think that speaks to availability in terms of the media."
This is an election year, and Williams is running for re-election, in a race that has national implications. But what the 22nd district will ultimately look like is unclear. A failure by Albany to come up with court-approved Congressional district lines means a late February deadline to draw up new maps. This could dramatically change the boundaries of a district, now more friendly to a Republican representative. Williams calls that a disservice to constituents. But he doesn’t spend time ruminating on whether a new map will be more advantageous to Democrats.
"We will take the new lines as they come, but I didn't start off to build a political career and I'm not trying to hold on to a political career," Williams said. "We'll just take it as it comes. I actually don't spend that much time worrying about it."
