The polls had yet to close, the vote count was 0-0. Otis Jennings stood in the middle of a crammed upstairs room at Asti’s Italian restaurant, smiling as the smell of baked ziti and fresh basil wafted over an excited crowd of reporters and campaign supporters. Jennings was one of two Republicans vying for the party nomination in the Syracuse mayoral primary Tuesday night.

Jennings was the favorite. He’d spent more money – $137,781 compared to the $33,973 raised by his opponent, Steve Kimatian. He had the support of the Syracuse City Republican Committee, Onondaga County Republican Committee, Syracuse City Conservative Committee and State Sen. John DeFransisco, R-Syracuse. All the political pundits predicted Jennings would win.

But when news stations gave an early report that he was losing by 3 percent, worry started to set in. Jennings shuffled back and forth between the big TV screen in the front of the room and the laptop manned by members of his campaign in the back.

‘This is the most difficult part,’ Jennings said. ‘When I played sports I had some control, because you get in the game and you can do something about it. This you have absolutely no control over. You do all the work you just have to wait for the results.’

Tyler Sadonis was surprised to see Jennings down by 6 percent, with 75 percent of the votes calculated. Sadonis, a senior at Liverpool High School, worked for Jennings this summer, campaigning door-to-door.

‘I honestly didn’t expect this. Every time I went out for him – East Side, West Side – I had people telling me they worked with him or that he spoke at their son or daughter’s school,’ he said. ‘I guess with these things you have to always expect the unexpected.’

By 9:30 p.m., Jennings was down by 12 percent. He nervously scratched his neck as he stared at the numbers.

‘I’d love to be ahead right now,’ said Jennings, his voice shakier than before. ‘I’m trying to stay positive and I’m waiting to see what the results will be.’

At 9:50 p.m., the game was called: 1,271 votes for Jennings to 1,645 votes for Kimatian. A cool breeze came through the once stuffy, crowded room as people took one last sip of their drinks and shuffled out the door.

‘You tried,’ said Michelle DeLong as she shook hands with Jennings on her way out. DeLong met Jennings, 16 years ago, when he spoke at Fowler High School in Syracuse. ‘He told me to keep going, keep achieving,’ she said. ‘I’m very proud of him.’

Jennings, who stood taller than most everyone in the room, looked defeated as he walked to the podium for his concession speech.

‘We ran a good campaign, a clean campaign and we did all that we could to win this race, and represent adequately the residents and the citizens of the city of Syracuse,’ Jennings said.

The small crowd that remained, cheered ‘Otis, Otis,’ as he continued.

‘I don’t blame anyone here, it’s just what it is,’ he said. ‘I’m thankful to the committee for endorsing me. One hundred, sixty-one years this city has been in existence and I’ve been very thankful that the committee gave me the opportunity to be the first African-American to run for mayor.’

A few miles away, Kimatian was celebrating an unexpected victory with Andre champagne and a spread of Buffalo wings and cherry cobbler.

‘I made a commitment early on to stay in the race until November and I plan on following through with that,’ Jennings said. ‘I’ll have further conversations with my team tomorrow and we’ll take it from there. It’s not the end of the game for me.’

jmterrus@syr.edu

Published on September 16, 2009 at 12:00 pm