Cicero — The Onondaga County Republican Committee may have picked Vince Giordano to run against Assemblyman Al Stirpe for the 127th district seat, but Cicero Town Councilor Mike Becallo isn’t backing down.
Becallo announced last week that he will continue his campaign for the seat, challenging Giordano in a primary this fall.
“I… will let Republican voters decide in a September primary election who is the best Republican candidate,” Becallo said in a release to the Star-Review. “This year’s election is simply too important, and the everyday Republican voter has the right to have a say in deciding who will be their candidate for Assembly.”
Becallo, 31, was elected to the Cicero Town Board in 2013. He works in healthcare information technology and serves as a volunteer firefighter with the Cicero Volunteer Fire Department.
Giordano, meanwhile, is the owner of SnoTop Ice Cream in Manlius and worked in upper management at Carrier Corporation for 38 years. He has served on the Manlius Town Board since 2010 and sought the county committee’s nomination to run against Stirpe in 2014. Instead, the party chose Rob DeMarco, who lost to Stirpe by more than 2,400 votes. Giordano is 73.
Giordano said he believes having a Republican primary in September will take away from the party’s goal to remove incumbent Democrat Stirpe from the seat.
“Last time I got into the race too late,” said Giordano. “When you run a primary, what happens is that it takes away from the party trying to oust the other party from the seat. If we’ve [Republican Party] got to spend time fighting amongst ourselves before we can go up against the incumbent, that’s a waste of money, it’s a waste of time and the chances of winning are slimmer.”
Giordano’s said his main goal if elected would be to help business and industry grow in the area. He is additionally seeking party nominations from the Conservative and Veterans parties.
continued — Becallo said he plans to work for lower taxes, decreased government spending, reducing red tape and government ethics reforms. He said he believes Republican voters should be able to compare him with his opponent at the polls.
“[At the primary] Republican voters will be able to evaluate me and my opponent, to compare and contrast our respective ages, our energy, the vitality of our campaigns, our voting record, principles and positions on important issues affecting our district,” Becallo said.
Becallo said he’ll also be seeking endorsements from the Conservative, Independence and Veterans parties.
The 127th district includes the towns of Cicero, Clay, Manlius, Tully, Fabius and Pompey.
