Joe Morelle, La'Ron Singletary clash on guns, abortion in NY 25th District race

The election in the newly redrawn 25th Congressional District features two lifelong residents of the Rochester area promoting themselves as moderates within their parties. One, two-term Democratic incumbent Joe Morelle, has spent his entire life in politics, while his challenger, newly minted Republican and first-time office-seeker La'Ron Singletary, boasts of a different kind of public service.

Morelle, 65, is running for re-election on a platform that includes reproductive rights, gun control and health care reform.

"I think I have a pretty good sense of what people in the community think about and care about," he said.

Neither of Morelle's two earlier Republican opponents for Congress, Jim Maxwell or George Mitris, had the name recognition of Singletary, a 20-year veteran of the RPD whose tenure as chief ended abruptly after the public learned of the death of Daniel Prude at the hands of Rochester police in March 2020.

Prude's death cast Singletary into the national discussion on policing and public safety. He has campaigned heavily on his law enforcement experience, saying he could help reduce violence in the district through increased support ― both tangible and symbolic ― for police.

"People know who La'Ron Singletary is," he said. "My roots run deep in this community. ... People knew me as a police chief who was for the people, who could identify with the people."

National election-watching organizations list NY-25 as safely Democratic, even after it gained more conservative-leaning areas to the south and west of Monroe County during redistricting. Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump by 20 points in the (newly constituted) district in 2020.

As of Sept. 30, Morelle had raised $1.8 million, with $673,000 on hand. Singletary had raised $542,000, including $100,000 of his own money that he loaned to the campaign, with $92,000 on hand.

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Joe Morelle

Morelle first entered the local political arena more than four decades ago. He served for 28 years in the New York State Assembly, including five years as majority leader, before running to represent the Rochester area in Congress in 2018 after the death of Louise Slaughter.

In his first two terms, he has anchored himself firmly to party orthodoxy, voting with President Joe Biden 100% of the time. He opposes some of the more progressive ideas within the Democratic caucus, including Medicaid for All.

Among his most significant accomplishments of his last term, he listed a number of pieces of health care legislation: bills that help eliminate surprise medical billing, contain the price of insulin and reform Medicare.

Singletary has attacked Morelle for not speaking out against Black Lives Matter protesters and others who have called for a decrease in funding for police. Morelle has never made that statement himself, but Singletary has noted that Morelle marched with protesters in Rochester and did not call local law enforcement to offer support that year.

"Joe Morelle sat down on Main Street with individuals who wanted to defund the police while I was at the public safety building trying to quell a city that was burning," Singletary said during a debate between the two.

Morelle has repeated throughout the campaign that he does not support defunding the police but rather would like to add funding as part of a broader campaign to improve public safety.

"When I talk to people in communities of color facing violence – they will plead with you not to reduce resources for police," he said. "But it’s not a binary decision. … We should invest in mental health services; we should invest in wraparound services and things far before someone’s involved in a (crime)."

As part of that broader campaign, Morelle favors stricter gun control laws, including universal background checks and a ban on assault weapons.

He co-sponsors a number of bills relating to climate change and touted the climate-related components of the Inflation Reduction Act. He said he does not currently see a feasible way to transition away from a car-centered transportation infrastructure to something more sustainable.

"America's DNA is centered to a large degree on cars," he said. "(High-speed rail) is really, really expensive to do, and I'm not sure we're in a position right now to do that effectively."

When asked his top priority for a potential next term, he first mentioned reproductive rights: "Making sure the horrendous Dobbs decision doesn't impact any more rights than it already has."

More:A guide to voter's rights in New York.

La'Ron Singletary

Like Morelle, Singletary represents a moderate vision within his party ― which makes sense, since Singletary spent nearly his entire life thus far as a Democrat.

He supports universal background checks on weapons purchases, increased spending on the social safety net and full rights and protections for LGBTQ people. He does not believe there was any fraud in the 2020 presidential election, or that election security is a pressing concern in general.

Singletary, 42, joined the Rochester Police Department in 2000 and became chief in April 2019. He lasted less than 18 months in that position because of the Daniel Prude incident.

He said he believes neither him nor his officers did anything wrong, either on the night Prude died or in the long aftermath. He points to the fact that Attorney General Letitia James brought no charges against the officers involved, and bristled at Morelle's suggestion that he quit his position in a time of crisis.

"I gave 20 years service to this community; was willing to lay down my life for this community," he said. "I didn’t quit; I stood up for what was right."

Singletary is most passionate about public safety. If elected, he said he would work with the federal Department of Justice to better coordinate responses and also find federal funding for understaffed agencies. As importantly, he said, would be serving as a loud and prominent advocate for the police.

"We’re 100 cops short in Rochester," he said. "That has a burden and an impact on the police officers who are working and it also has an impact on the people who need those resources."

When asked what he thinks about Donald Trump's repeated attacks on federal law enforcement, Singletary said: "It doesn't make me think (anything). ... If that's what Donald Trump said, that's what he said."

On the topic of abortion, Singletary said he would not support a nationwide ban because he believes women should be able to make their own well-informed, empowered decisions. To the extent that lack of resources or a social safety net unfairly weighs on some women, he said, the government should do more to help.

At the same time, he said the Supreme Court had "acted prudently" in reversing Roe v. Wade and that states should have the choice to permit or disallow abortions. In states where abortion is now outlawed, he said, women's choice lies largely in their ability to lobby their state Legislature.

On climate change, Singletary said the United States should not take bold action if the up-front economic cost is too high, or if other large nations like China and India are not on board as well.

There are currently three Black Republican members of Congress, one in the Senate and two in the House of Representatives. Singletary said he believes the party needs to increase its outreach to Black people and other urban residents.

"For so long the Republican party has not attempted to tap into the inner city," he said. "If you go in there and talk to them, you may find we have a lot in common."

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Morelle, Singletary clash on guns, abortion for NY 25th district