WSKG reporters are interviewing candidates in some of the biggest races in our area heading into the November election. This week, we profile the candidates running for New York’s 52nd Senate District. The district includes the cities of Binghamton, Ithaca and Cortland. Democratic state Sen. Lea Webb is running for reelection. Her Republican challenger is Tompkins County Legislator Mike Sigler. We aired a profile of Sigler on Tuesday.
State Sen. Lea Webb didn’t start out with dreams of serving in the state Legislature. Instead, she had plans to study medicine and become a pediatric neurosurgeon.
“If you would have asked me 15, 20 years ago if I would have seen myself being in elected office, I would have looked at you like you had two heads,” she said.
But after graduating college, she found herself engaging in the policy side of public health and political organizing. Still, she didn’t see herself as a politician, even when she was asked to run for Binghamton’s city council at 24 years old. She refused, saying she was too young to run for the seat.
“There was very limited representation of women in elected office within the region and even in the state," Webb said. "Additionally, very limited or no representation of folks from communities of color, and I knew about the financial challenges.”
A few years later, she finally agreed to run. She won her seat on the Binghamton City Council when she was 26, becoming the first Black person to hold the position in 2007.
In 2022, she won another race, this time for state Senate. She secured the formerly Republican-held seat as a Democrat and member of the Working Families Party.
Since assuming office in 2023, Webb said she has prioritized maternal and reproductive health care, chairing the Women's Issues Committee in the Senate.
One of her first votes as a senator was to advance the Equal Rights Amendment, which would ban discrimination based on gender identity and pregnancy outcomes. This year, New Yorkers will have the chance to ratify the amendment, which will appear on November ballots as Prop 1.
Webb also introduced multiple bills focusing on maternal health care. She highlighted one, which would establish a working group to study maternal health care with the end goal of guiding “culturally competent care, free of discrimination.”
“Women of color are five times more likely, at least five times more likely, to die giving childbirth than white women,” she said. “And when you hear stats like that, that's real people in real time.”
The legislation passed the Assembly and Senate, and now needs to be signed into law by the governor.
Webb said she also drew on her experience as a former educator at Binghamton University during her first term.
“We know education is the cornerstone for any community, any society when you're talking about advancement,” she said.
She introduced a bill to increase minimum payments from the Tuition Assistance Program from $500 to $1,000, and expanded eligibility for the program.
Webb told WSKG she’s also proud of her more locally focused legislation, like the bill that saved Ithaca’s Carshare. The program allows users to rent vehicles parked around the city for a short period of time.
Webb and state Assemblymember Anna Kelles sponsored legislation to adjust insurance law so the nonprofit could continue operations.
“That program helps to address transportation access,” Webb said. “It is also a program that helps with our environmental goals.”
Webb said she has worked to help the state meet its climate targets. That includes getting 70% of New York’s electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030. However, a recent study from the Department of Public Service and the state energy authority showed that the state is far behind on those goals.
“They are just goals,” Webb said. “We know that with any goal, you have to have the financial investments and other infrastructure, which is what we're working on to try to meet those goals.”
Webb threw her support behind the NY HEAT Act, which would have gotten the state off gas faster. It died in the Assembly in this year’s budget making process.
When asked about their priorities in the 2024 election, respondents to a WSKG listener survey said their top issues were climate change, abortion access and the preservation of democracy and democratic institutions.
Webb said that promoting civic engagement and expanding access to voting were critical to the health of a democracy.
“I say to folks that yes, it is imperative that we participate in our democracy,” Webb said. “I get it when people have apathy, because you may feel like, well, it's just the same thing over and over again. But it doesn't have to be that way.”
Voters will decide whether to reelect Webb on Election Day, which is Tuesday, November 5. Early voting begins Saturday, October 26.
WSKG is hosting a live debate between Mike Sigler and Lea Webb on Thursday, Oct. 17 at 8 p.m. Do you have a question for the candidates? You can submit them here.
Read our profile of Mike Sigler here.
