Onondaga County Legislator Maurice Brown on Friday announced he will run for the New York state Assembly, challenging longtime Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli for the Democratic nomination for the Central New York seat.

“I’m running because Syracuse deserves stronger results from Albany,” Brown said in a statement.

He added that after more than two decades of the same representation in the 129th Assembly District, Brown said the issue is not effort, but outcomes.

“I do not question whether the incumbent has tried,” Brown said. “But after nearly 30 years, working families are still dealing with unreliable bus service, rising housing costs, and public safety conversations that focus more on reaction than prevention. We deserve outcomes, not just effort.”

Brown currently represents the 15th District of the Onondaga County Legislature, which he has served in since 2023. He is the current chair of the Ways and Means Committee. Prior to that, Brown enlisted in the U.S. Army, volunteered for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in 2016 and was nominated as a delegate to the Democratic Party’s national convention that year. 

In 2017, Brown founded Uplift Syracuse, a progressive advocacy group focused on bringing local change through electoral politics and is the region’s organizer for the Working Families Party.

In 2024, Brown was appointed to be the county legislature’s representative on the Greater Syracuse Land Bank’s board.

Brown said his campaign for the Assembly would focus on affordability, housing, public safety and what he called tax fairness.

“The wealthiest corporations and the top earners in our state are not paying their fair share,” Brown said. “If we want universal childcare, if we want to pass the New York Health Act, and if we want to fully fund the services families rely on, then we must require those at the top to contribute more. We cannot keep asking working families to carry the burden.”

“Challenging the status quo is never easy,” he added. “But our community deserves leadership focused on real results.”

The 129th Assembly District includes parts of the city of Syracuse, the town of Geddes, the town of Van Buren, and part of the village of Baldwinsville. Magnarelli was first elected to the seat in 1998.