NY-22: Utica University history professor Clemmie Harris on Friday joined the Democratic primary to face freshman Rep. Brandon Williams in New York’s 22nd Congressional District, an upstate constituency that's one of the bluest seats in the country held by a Republican. The only other declared candidate is Dewitt Town Councilor Sarah Klee Hood, but Inside Elections’ Jacob Rubashkin reports that state Sen. John Mannion has been assembling a team for his own potential bid.
Harris, a former Army drill sergeant and state trooper, would be the first Black person to represent Syracuse in the House. He served as a top aide to then-Gov. David Patterson before he began his career in academia, but he was linked to a scandal involving a colleague named David Johnson that helped end the already unpopular governor’s hopes of winning a full term in 2010. The previous year, Johnson allegedly tried to choke his then-girlfriend Sherr-Una Booker; after she fled to an unnamed friend’s apartment, he quickly contacted Harris. Harris, according to a subsequent report, tried to get that friend to convince Booker not to press charges in order to avoid embarrassing Patterson.
After reports broke detailing efforts by Paterson and his administration to keep the alleged assault out of the public eye―efforts Booker said included harassment by the State Police―the governor quickly ended his reelection campaign. A state investigation ultimately concluded that Patterson and his team, including Harris, had acted inappropriately but hadn’t broken the law. “Even if Harris believed the incident was not more than a serious argument,” former Chief Judge Judith Kaye wrote, “Harris’s conduct – seeking to steer a domestic violence complainant away from the protections available to her by law – was inappropriate, especially for a public official with a law enforcement background as a former member of the State Police.”
Harris, who is the founding head of Utica University’s Africana Studies program, used his kickoff video to emphasize his work in the Patterson administration during the challenging years of the Great Recession and called himself “one of the nicest former drill sergeants you’ll ever meet.” When syracuse.com asked him last month about the investigation as he was preparing to launch his campaign, he insisted, “I fundamentally believe my actions were not inappropriate.”
Mannion, meanwhile, was elected to the legislature on his second try in 2020, a win that made him the first Democrat to represent this area in the state Senate in 50 years. He faced another tough task during the difficult 2022 cycle but ultimately won reelection by just 10 votes.
It may be some time before Mannion makes up his mind, though, as Inside Elections writes that he likely won’t decide until he knows whether or not the state’s highest court will order a new congressional map, a possibility we discussed previously. (Inside Elections' report includes a detailed look at dozens of other House races, along with information about many potential candidates. We definitely recommend a read.)