NY-22 candidate spotlight: Francis Conole talks service, outside money and abortion rights

Democrat candidate Francis Conole and Republican candidate Brandon Williams are vying for New York’s 22nd Congressional District seat in November 2022. As part of ongoing election coverage, the Observer-Dispatch asked Conole and Williams to separate sit-down interviews to share their thoughts on topics including redistricting, the primary election and their individual goals for the district.

The following story is the result of that interview with Francis Conole. At the time of publication, Brandon Williams had not confirmed requests for an interview.

Francis Conole’s personal brand of politics is rooted in service.

The Iraq War veteran and current U.S. Naval Reserve captain said running for New York’s 22nd Congressional District seat as the Democratic nominee is itself an act of service.

“I believe in listening,” Conole said. “I believe in reaching out. I believe in having those difficult conversations.”

Conole said he doesn’t like the polarization and extremes in the country’s political landscape and believes Americans are tired of it, too.

“For the past six years, we’ve been told we have to dislike or we have to hate our neighbors because they disagree with us,” he said. “I think people just want their neighbors back. They want that sense of community.”

Conole stopped at the Observer-Dispatch office on Genesee Street to discuss his politics, thoughts on current events and the compressed campaign season following congressional redistricting.

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NY 22nd Congressional District - Democratic Primary

Conole won a competitive primary election over Sarah Klee Hood, Chol Majok and Sam Roberts, beating Klee Hood by less than 1,000 votes. In the ensuing weeks since the Aug. 23 election, Conole, who led all candidates in fundraising, has received the endorsements of his former competitors.

Conole praised Klee Hood, Majok and Roberts for their experience and backgrounds in what he called a spirited primary. He also described the difficulties of running in a primary where changing congressional maps meant uncertainty for the candidates and campaign outreach.

“It was a wild year that we’ve had thus far in terms of the political landscape,” Conole said.

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Despite the various iterations that led to the current congressional maps, Conole said the new 22nd Congressional District, which includes Madison, Oneida and Onondaga counties, as well as a sliver of Oswego County, is a good one. He said local leaders he’s spoken with agree it made sense to bring Utica and Syracuse together into a combined district.

“That is really, I think, in the spirit of the way redistricting is supposed to be done,” he said. “You’re supposed to keep counties, communities of interest intact. I think keeping the counties intact really made a lot of sense.”

Utica, which was the largest city in the former NY-22, now pales in comparison to the Syracuse metro area. Conole won the nomination despite losing to Klee Hood in Madison and Oneida counties.

Conole is nevertheless opening a Utica office and said he doesn’t view the district as a one-city district. He said he will split time between his Syracuse and Utica offices.

“We’re going to have a strong presence here and I really look at it as these two twin cities will be the focal point of the district,” Conole said.

Francis Conole's approach to Central New York challenges

When asked about the unique challenges facing the new congressional district, Conole went first to the deindustrialization of Central New York. He cited Syracuse examples — General Motors and Carrier — that are echoed in Utica’s past through major employers like General Electric.

“Now what I think is going to be critically important for us is that we continue to find our footing in this 21st century economy and find these new opportunities — attract jobs, attract economic opportunity,” Conole said. “ … And I think we can. I think the future is bright for us here in Central New York.”

In his time in the Navy, Conole traveled around the country and world and called Central New York a wonderful place to live due to the education system, hiking opportunities and the fact he said it will be shielded to impacts of global warming compared to other regions.

Investment at the federal level to create economic opportunity will need to continue, Conole said. He highlighted the bipartisan infrastructure bill and CHIPS and Science Act as some legislative bright spots to boost investment in the region.

Onondaga County is hoping to replicate the success of Wolfspeed in Marcy through its own semiconductor tenant, Conole said. In addition to advanced manufacturing, the congressional district should look to invest in jobs in clean energy, he said.

“We’ve got to get our workforce ready as well,” Conole said. “So the education and training component of that. Having federal dollars where we can invest in educating and training our workforce I think is going to be critical as well.”

Francis Conole's thoughts on the Biden administration, abortion ruling

While Democrats control the executive and legislative branches of the federal government, Conole said there are mistakes President Joe Biden and his administration have made.

“I think we can all agree that Afghanistan could have been handled better and that that was a real mess in how we departed,” he said. “Even though I think that we’ve got to take a real deliberate look at these long, never-ending wars that we’ve had in the Middle East.”

Conole was critical of leaders in Washington on both sides for being slow-moving in a response to inflation. He reiterated praise for the infrastructure bill, CHIPS Act, as well as legislation like supporting veterans affected by burn pits, which he saw near his base while stationed in Iraq.

“If we’re lowering the cost of prescription drugs for seniors; if we’re lowering the cost of healthcare, investing in domestic energy production — those are good things,” Conole said.

Outside the Democrat-controlled White House and Congress, Conole was critical of the Supreme Court decision in June that overturned abortion rights enshrined by Roe v. Wade.

“That decision that came out of the Supreme Court?” he said. “They got that wrong … For the first time in my lifetime, and really that I can think of in our history, we have now gone backwards. We have taken rights away from millions of women. It’s an assault on our values, it’s an assault on freedom and it's an assault on human rights.”

A tour of Conole’s campaign website includes mentions of Washington dysfunction, especially related to lobbyists. The Democratic candidate said there are massive amounts of corporate money in politics which have created headwinds to the passage of legislation on broadly popular proposals like climate change preparation, common sense gun laws and lowering the cost of prescription drugs.

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Francis Conole on PAC support, Washington dysfunction

Conole came under scrutiny from Klee Hood during the primary election over backing from the Protect Our Future PAC, which was formed earlier this year with the stated goal of preparing for and preventing another pandemic. The committee has received nearly all of its funding — $27 million — from Samuel Bankman-Fried, the founder and CEO of FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange.

While Conole said he’s worked hard to raise his own money, he acknowledged Protect Our Future’s support, calling it a very focused PAC. “Preparing for the next pandemic” is listed as one of the issues on his campaign website.

“I had a background in that,” he said. “I responded. I activated with the Navy to respond to the pandemic last year. It’s something that I’m deeply committed to.”

Conole benefited from $510,190 in support from the Protect Our Future PAC tied to media ad buys, ad production and direct mail. The Democratic candidate said he is committed to taking no corporate PAC money.

Conole also highlighted gerrymandering in the dysfunction at the nation’s capital but said New York’s 22nd Congressional District represents a true battleground district. The district is considered to have a slight Democratic lean by national pundits.

“We have a constituency in this district where, not just because I want to and it’s something that’s important to me, where I’m going to have to listen to the broad spectrum of voters,” he said. “We’ve become so polarized in this country that I really think it’s so important to reach out, have those tough conversations and then as a matter of functioning in Washington, to help move things forward.”

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: NY22 election: Democrat Francis Conole shares goals, challenges