Bullock, Tarver vie for open Onondaga County District 16 seat

Two Democrats with backgrounds in advocacy and community work are competing for the open Onondaga County Legislature District 16 seat, a South Side race that could help define how Syracuse’s neighborhoods are governed now that Democrats hold the majority.

Nyatwa Bullock and Charlene Tarver are running to replace Charles Garland, who said he will not seek reelection after representing Syracuse’s South Side since 2022. Garland is the county legislature’s longest-serving Democratic legislator, and his departure leaves one of the county’s most closely watched Syracuse-area seats open as the chamber enters a new political era.

The stakes reach beyond one district. Democrats won nine of the legislature’s 17 seats in November 2025, ending decades in the minority and giving them control of budget decisions, appointments and policy. District 16 now sits inside that new balance of power, which means the winner will have a direct role in how county resources are allocated and how aggressively the legislature pushes its priorities.

Tarver has already received the backing of the Onondaga County Democratic Committee, which endorsed her when it announced its 2026 slate. Bullock and Tarver will face voters in the county primary on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, a contest that comes as Democrats try to defend their new majority and Republicans look to regain ground.

The district itself has long carried outsized political weight. District 16 has been at the center of earlier redistricting fights over whether the South Side’s Black-majority voting strength was being diluted, and the county says the maps now governing the 2025 election cycle and moving into 2026 were adopted at the end of 2024. The legislature approved the district shapefile on Dec. 3, 2024.

Countywide enrollment also frames the race. 2025 figures showed more than 116,000 registered Democrats, nearly 94,000 unaffiliated voters and almost 84,000 Republicans, a reminder that the fight for District 16 is part of a broader countywide realignment. In a chamber where the majority changed hands only months ago, the open South Side seat could help determine how firmly that shift holds.