Race for 52nd State Senate District is on

Incumbent Democratic State Sen. Lea Webb and Tompkins County Legislature Minority Leader Mike Sigler are set to vie for the 52nd State Senate district seat next year.

Webb’s Chief of Staff Stacey Dimas confirmed to Tompkins Weekly that the first-term senator will seek reelection. The news comes after a report from The Ithaca Voice in early September which announced that Sigler, R-Town of Lansing, will challenge Webb. The 52nd state senate district encompasses the counties of Tompkins and Cortland, as well as a portion of Broome County that includes Webb’s native Binghamton.

“I am absolutely running for a second term and look forward to continuing to serve our community,” Webb said in an email. “At the moment, I am focused on the important work I am doing here in the district to represent Senate District 52.” 

Webb was elected to the Senate last year, beating out former Binghamton Mayor Rich David in a close race. She was part of the first all-woman freshman class in the history of the New York Senate. 

In her announcement, Webb touted her sponsorship of 23 bills that made it through both chambers in Albany, and the eight that have been signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, as major accomplishments. 

Most recently, a bill pushed jointly by Webb and Assemblymember Anna Kelles, D-Ithaca, helped save Ithaca Carshare from shutting down. 

Webb also said she was proud of the work done by the Senate’s Women’s Issues Committee, which she chairs, as well as the Senate’s work in securing increases to the state’s minimum wage, stronger funding for higher education and full funding for foundation aid in district schools.

“The voters sent me here to do one thing, and that was to advocate for their best interests,” she said.

To finish out her first term, Webb said she wants to continue advocating for working families, pushing for greater child care resources, keeping the cost of living low and protecting the area’s agricultural industry.

Sigler

As one of the longest-termed members in the Legislature, Sigler has been a mainstay of county GOP politics for about 13 years in total. He was elected as Lansing’s representative to the county’s legislative body in 2006. After a four-year term, he lost a close race, but later he regained what has been his legislative seat since 2014. He is currently the Tompkins County Republican Party Committee chair. 

His biggest edge in this race, he says, is his proximity to local issues and his vast experience in public service. 

“I get reelected in a district that is not a Republican district,” he noted, talking about his electability. “I think the reason people like me is because I’m an involved person. You’re going to see me at the supermarket, you’re going to see me at the soccer game, you’re going to see me at whatever event it is. I’m a very approachable person, and I think that’s the key to being a good public servant.”

Overall, Sigler said he wants to reconnect people to their government.

“I keep looking at what Albany is doing, and Albany has a very top-down approach,” he said. “You need somebody in that role who will bring us back to a local approach, bring us back to what is in our New York State Constitution, which is home rule.”

One of the recent issues that Sigler says illustrates this idea is the $1.5 million in missing local funding, a result of a state decision to withhold enhanced Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentage funds from the counties. 

For 20 years, counties have received some version of Medicaid reimbursements from the federal government through New York state. The funds grew when the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, resulting in the expansion of Medicaid to provide coverage to more Americans. Prior to the passage of the ACA, the federal government reimbursed around 50% of counties’ Medicaid costs. That figure rose to close to 90% after the bill passed and states expanded the program. 

New York pays one of the highest shares in the country for its Medicaid program. A report from the Office of the State Comptroller indicates that the state paid about $27.7 billion in Medicaid costs in fiscal year 2021-2022. This is the highest level of spending in the history of the state, according to a report from the comptroller’s office, which attributes the high spending in part to higher enrollment levels impacted by federal restrictions on disenrollment during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

“It’s a substantial amount of money,” Sigler said.

Another local issue that is not getting enough of a local perspective at the state level, Sigler said, is solar development.

“[Albany] doesn’t want any input from the towns or the counties that these things are going into,” he said. “These are very large arrays. These aren’t the community solar projects that people are used to. Frankly, a lot of people don’t like those, either.”

Sigler said he would like to see “basic protections” for homeowners whose homes will be near solar developments.

“Some of the solar arrays surround people’s homes,” he said. “They are then on an island of solar panels. I don’t think a lot of people who have moved into Lansing expected it. And why would they? This didn’t exist 10 years ago.”

Election Day in 2024 will fall on Nov. 5.

Lansing at Large appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com. Contact Eddie Velazquez at edvel37@gmail.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @ezvelazquez.

In brief

The Lansing Town Board will discuss the town’s 2024 budget on Sept. 27. The budget unveiling will start at 6:30 p.m. at the Lansing Town Hall.