Former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner announces bid for New York governor

Former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner announced she will run for New York state governor against two-time incumbent Andrew Cuomo, The New York Times reported Monday.

Miner, who ran as a Democrat for her two terms as mayor in Syracuse and was former co-chairwoman of the New York Democratic Party, will run as a member of a new group called the Serve America Movement. While still only a group, a SAM official said its eventual goal is to create a national SAM party, starting in New York with Miner as its first candidate.

The ex-mayor and current governor have had a strained relationship. Tensions became public more than five years ago when Miner published an op-ed in The New York Times criticizing Cuomo’s policies and priorities as governor.

In an interview with The New York Times, Miner called her bid a “rebuke of Andrew Cuomo’s policies and a rebuke of where we are as a state,” noting that many government officials, including one of Cuomo’s main confidantes, have been convicted in federal corruption trials.

She had previously announced she did not intend to challenge Rep. John Katko (R-Camillus) in the upcoming congressional election but had long been entertaining the idea of a gubernatorial run.

Miner served her eight-year tenure as mayor with an emphasis on issues such as education and Syracuse’s fiscal crisis.

In spring 2018, the attorney and Syracuse University alumna worked at New York University as Visiting Distinguished Urbanist at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

Miner, running with SAM, will also be challenging Democratic candidate Cynthia Nixon, probable Republican candidate Marcus Molinaro and fellow Syracuse native, Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins.