A former Syracuse University football captain is considering to run for the state Senate seat representing the Syracuse area.

Sam Rodgers, 28, told The Daily Orange on Saturday that he was exploring a 2020 campaign for the state’s 53rd Senate district. Rodgers, a Class of 2015 graduate, played on SU’s football team as a long snapper and served as a team captain.

Sen. Rachel May (D-Syracuse) previously served as SU’s director of sustainability education. May defeated seven-term incumbent Sen. David Valesky (D-Oneida) in the 2018 Democratic primary. She then beat Republican candidate Janet Burman by more than 14 percent of the vote. 

Rodgers said he has not focused on any issues yet since he is still considering the campaign. He did cite central New York’s declining population as a major issue facing the area. Syracuse has lost about 77,000 people since 1950. Between 2017 and 2018, the city’s population grew by a small amount, about .32%. 

“Syracuse and central New York has so much untapped potential,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers currently works part-time at the Onondaga County Law Department with the county’s Deputy Attorney. He primarily works in family court and helps represent people in the family law office, he said. Rodgers is also pursuing a master’s degree in public administration at SU’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. 

During his time at SU, Rodgers organized two mission trips to Haiti where he taught children English, built greenhouses and ran a soccer clinic at an orphanage. Rodgers started the Syracuse chapter of Uplifting Athletes, a nonprofit that helps college athletic departments raise money for rare diseases. He focused his fundraising efforts on brain cancer.

He was the only student-athlete to serve on the 2015 search committee for a new SU athletic director. The university hired Mark Coyle, who previously served as Boise State University’s director of athletics. Coyle left SU in 2016. 

Rodgers received a law degree from Cornell University this year. He met his wife, Jenna, while at SU. She was on SU’s soccer team and served as captain for two years.

During May’s time in the state Senate, she has co-sponsored bills including the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act and the Reproductive Health Act. She campaigned in 2018 on promises to attack issues including campaign finance reform, health care for all and an end to partisan gerrymandering. 

Before her Senate run, May launched True Blue NY-53, a group that supports progressive Democratic state Senate candidates. 

Rodgers said his announcement wasn’t introducing a formal campaign but instead his “intention to explore running.” He also said he did not want to overshadow the 2019 elections. The off-year elections include more than a dozen state races. 

“There’s still a lot of steps that need to happen for me to be the candidate,” Rodgers said. “But I’m definitely excited for that opportunity, and I’m going to move along behind the scenes as the 2019 election plays out.”

Published on September 28, 2019 at 9:06 pm

Contact Gabe: gkstern@syr.edu | @gabestern326