OSWEGO COUNTY – As the New York primary election day, June 23, quickly approaches, democratic voters in Oswego County may recognize a few familiar names on the ballot for the Democratic National Convention, District 24.
Daniel Farfaglia of Fulton, John T. Sullivan Jr. of Oswego and Rita Tickle of Oswego are three names out of 35 residents of NY-24 who are on the ballot, hoping to be one of the seven chosen to represent the district as a delegate for the DNC, which will nominate the Democratic Party’s official candidate for the U.S. presidential election this November.
Farfaglia is on the line of seven candidates pledging to Joe Biden. Both Sullivan and Tickle are on the line pledging to Pete Buttigieg. At this point in the election, all Democratic presidential candidates on the ballot, besides Biden, have announced they have dropped out of the race.
Farfaglia began his career in politics as a legislative aide in Albany 25 years ago. He worked for the State Assembly for 13 years, Senate for 2.5 years, Oswego County Legislature for 8 years, and was one of the four 2019 Fulton mayoral candidates. He has also been part of the Oswego County Democratic Committee for ten years and a member of the State Democratic Committee for three years.
He ran to be a delegate for the DNC in 2016, but was not elected, and so he hopes to get the win for his second attempt.
Farfaglia said he is backing Biden because he believes the presidential candidate is the most qualified on the ballot.
“Not only do I support him, I do think that he would bring common sense and decency and respect back into the White House,” Farfaglia said. “When I was asked by the Biden campaign if I was interested in serving as a delegate again this year, this time for him, I was more than honored.”
He said another reason why he decided to enter his name was because of his deep disappointment in the direction the country has been going in since President Donald Trump took office.
Sullivan was the City of Oswego’s mayor from 1988 to 1992, during which Harborfest began. He has had a long and varied career in government and politics. This career began in 1971 when he was elected to the Oswego County Legislature at 23 years old.
He has worked for the State Assembly, has served as chairman of the Oswego County Democratic Party, co-chairman of the State Democratic Party, Assistant Attorney General in Watertown, Medicaid Inspector General, co-chair of Andrew Cuomo’s Upstate New York campaign, Administrative Law Judge for the Labor Department and has since been semi-retired.
He now volunteers as a chair on the Waterfront Commission for Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow.
Sullivan has also been a delegate for the 1972 DNC and a co-chair of his delegation for the 1996 DNC.
“Once more with gusto,” Sullivan said. “I’ve been to two conventions. I know the landscape.”
Sullivan explained that on the ballot, voters will vote their preference of presidential candidate, then vote to elect the delegates. In order for delegate candidates to “get in the ring,” the presidential candidate they pledged needs to get a minimum of 15% of the vote.
“In my case, I’m pledged to Buttigieg. Unless he gets 15% of the vote minimum, I wouldn’t be selected as a delegate, no matter how many votes I got,” Sullivan said. “If he got upwards of 15% or more, and I’m really kind of the first one on the ballot, so it’s likely just because of my ballot position that I would hopefully maybe lead the Buttigieg ticket, to which event I would actually get to go.”
He said he backed Buttigieg because he believed him to be refreshing, one of the most knowledgeable of the candidates, and was mayor of a small city. Sullivan said although Buttigieg has dropped out of the race, he will still support Biden.
Tickle is also from Oswego and is a delegate candidate pledged to Buttigieg.
Her career has mostly been in personnel management and human resources. She worked for the City of Oswego chamberlain’s office then in 1979 she ran for the City of Oswego Common Council and won the primary but lost the general election. She decided not to run again, but stayed involved in several campaigns for local, state and national government.
In 1988 she was appointed Personnel Director for the city until 2000. She came back to the position in 2008 until 2016 when she decided to retire. Her main responsibility was overseeing civil service, including the Oswego City School District, the city library and the Port Authority.
Tickle said she had been closely following the presidential campaign because she believed it to be the most important election of her lifetime. She then found Buttigieg’s campaign and decided to support him.
Sullivan, who had just agreed to be a delegate, asked Tickle if she would be interested in putting her name on the ballot as well.
“I’ve always wanted to go to the national convention, so I thought this would be a great opportunity and I felt that Pete [Buttigieg] was a great candidate,” Tickle said. “I’ve always been a supporter of Joe Biden and he’s the likely candidate for the Democratic Party, so I will obviously support the person who gets the nomination. I think Mayor Pete has a future ahead of him, hopefully in the presidency or in some high level position.”
In the 2020 DNC, there will be 4,750 delegates. The convention, which was supposed to be held in Milwaukee in July, but has since been moved to August 17 due to the recent pandemic. The delegate selection rules can be found here.
The New York state primary election day is June 23, but due to COVID-19, voting is being done via absentee ballots. Those ballots must be returned in person or postmarked on or before June 23. For more information on the election, visit the New York state Board of Elections or Oswego County Board of Elections.
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