Independent Political Organization Supporting Dynamic Team of Candidates – Angi Renna and Sam Rodgers –  to Fight for Private Sector Job Growth in Syracuse and Central New York

Albany, NY – Upstate Jobs Party (UJP) today announced 2020 endorsements for State Senate in Central New York.  In recent years, Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh, State Senator Bob Antonacci, and Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon have been elected with the strong support UJP.  In this year’s highly important State Legislative races, UJP is endorsing political newcomers Angi Renna and Sam Rodgers for State Senate.  UJP announced these endorsements and support for these candidates as the right choices in Central New York to aggressively pursue opportunities for private sector job growth, while focusing on reforming our education system, realigning economic development policy, boosting the innovation economy and leading holistic government reform in the State.

UJP recognized Renna’s steadfast commitment to attracting innovation economy jobs and improving accountability in economic development programs, as well as Rodgers’ focus on providing better support for our teachers and reinvigorating the Upstate economy.  Both candidates have shown to be far better aligned with embracing capitalism and supporting private sector job growth than their opponents.

Martin Babinec said, “The Upstate Jobs Party looked across the State for the right kind of candidates to support and paid special attention to Central New York.  As a region where we’ve continued to support dynamic and talented leaders that have improved the Central New York economy, UJP views these races as vitally important. Knowing Angi’s business acumen and commitment to integrity, and Sam’s focus on improving our economy and growing jobs, these candidates will lead our region forward.  Both candidates have embraced UJP’s platform to reverse the outmigration of our talent and are committed to developing policy to enable private investment in our economy while reforming State government.”

For 2020, UJP has launched a platform with 4 main areas of focus – reforming a broken economic development system, overhauling our education system to empower teachers and students, supporting the innovation economy, and seeking holistic government reform.  UJP believes this focus will help stem the outflow of our young talent, getting government out of the way of investors and entrepreneurs, and fully reforming New York State government.  That platform can be found at www.UpstateJobs.org/platform.

New York State Senate Candidate Angi Renna said, “I am honored to have received the endorsement of the Upstate Jobs Party. As a small business owner, I am committed to encouraging economic development and entrepreneurship that will help our local economy. I want to ensure our kids are able to remain in Central New York and the way to do that is to create local jobs. As Senator, I will support programs that help our local businesses succeed so they are able to hire even more hard working Central New Yorkers.”

New York State Senate Candidate Sam Rodgers said, “Thank you to the Upstate Jobs Party for your endorsement of my campaign. One of the main reasons I chose to run for senate is to create good paying jobs for Central New Yorkers. My wife Jenna and I chose to buy a home and build our lives here once we graduated from Syracuse University. I want to make sure our younger generations also have the ability to remain in this area and are not forced to move away due to the lack of employment opportunities. ”

Founded in 2016, the Upstate Jobs Party built support through the platform put forward by Martin Babinec, a successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur who has helped hundreds of others start and grow companies in Upstate NY. Supporters of his independent Congressional bid came together following the 2016 election with commitments to stay involved in advancing UJP.

In 2017, Upstate Jobs Party supported independent candidate Ben Walsh, who successfully upset the political establishment by winning election as Syracuse Mayor on an Upstate Jobs Party line. In 2018 State Elections, three of the four candidates supported by UJP were elected, with six out of seven elected in local races in 2019.  Today’s announcement is one of several UJP endorsements for State offices statewide.

“As we continue to spread our message, we find more and more candidates and elected officials who believe that fostering an environment where new companies in innovation industries can succeed is the surest path towards creating a stronger economy in Upstate NY,” added John Bullis, UJP Chairman.

Significant resources, from the Independent Expenditure committee – Upstate Jobs Committee – will be committed to support the elections of candidates that believe in real policies to grow the Upstate economy in the 2020 campaign cycle. Volunteers interested in joining the effort to create more jobs in Upstate NY, keep our best and brightest talent from leaving to pursue opportunities elsewhere, and build a strong economy throughout the region are encouraged to visit www.UpstateJobs.org or www.VoteUpstateJobs.org to learn more.

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