Jennings: ‘I look at what we’ve accomplished’
Otis Jennings sat in his small corner office Tuesday night at his campaign headquarters, smiling from ear to ear.
‘I feel fantastic,’ he said. ‘I’m at peace. I’ve worked diligently, and we’ve run a very honorable campaign.’
Jennings, the Conservative Party mayoral candidate, remained optimistic throughout election night as results rolled in. But the numbers weren’t in his favor. Members of his campaign team and supporters stayed positive, though.
Despite the optimism, Jennings said he knew he had obstacles standing in the way of a victory. There are only about 300 registered Conservative Party members in Syracuse, Jennings said.
And as the night went on, Jennings lost his small lead over Steve Kimatian, the Republican Party candidate, and finished in last place with 10 percent of the votes, according to unofficial results from the Onondaga County Board of Elections.
Stephanie Miner, who received 50.1 percent of the votes, became the first female mayor of Syracuse. Kimatian received 39.2 percent of the votes.
Jennings lost an election for the second time in the last two months. He lost in the Republican primary Sept. 15 to Kimatian in an upset.
When results started coming in around 9:20 p.m., they showed Jennings in second place, between Kimatian and Democratic and Working Families Party candidate Miner.
‘Well, at least we’re ahead of Kimatian,’ said a voice from the small crowd.
Jennings couldn’t believe he was in second place when 1 percent of votes had been tallied.
‘Yeah, right,’ he said.
It was true. He was four percent ahead of Kimatian.
But Melanie Chapman, one of Jennings’ campaign members, started tearing up as the realization set in that the man she had been working for since June had lost.
‘He’s a man of integrity,’ she said. ‘He ran an honest campaign, but God has other plans for him.’
After most of the votes filtered in, Jennings, still smiling, thanked everyone involved in his campaign.
‘Tonight is a positive night. Most people think that if you don’t win, it’s automatically a loss. I look at what we’ve accomplished,’ he said.
The Syracuse City Conservative Committee made him the first endorsed black mayoral candidate in the city. He raised $145,431, outpacing Kimatian by more than $60,000, according to campaign finance reports on the New York State Board of Elections Web site.
Jennings said he would help Miner as much as possible to improve the livelihood of Syracuse citizens. He said even though he did not win, the people of Syracuse mattered more than any election.
‘Politics is all about the people, not about any leader,’ he said.
As for future plans, he said he was looking forward to home life.
‘The first thing I do when I get home is to hug my wife, give her a big kiss and act like Don Juan. After kissing my kids goodnight, of course,’ he said with a smile.
‘It’ll be a little strange and weird to be home tomorrow night.’
Published on November 3, 2009 at 12:00 pm
