Chris Ryan is a former telephone lineman and union president who became the state senator for the 50th District in January 2025. A Democrat who also runs on the Working Families line, he represents parts of Onondaga and Oswego counties. He faces Republican James Corl on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot as he seeks a second term.
So who is Chris Ryan, what has he done, and what do his critics say? The record runs through nearly three decades in a telephone workers’ union, 20 years in town and county government, a 2024 race decided by 1,510 votes, and a first term built around health care, consumer protection, and Micron.
Quick Facts
- Party
- Democratic (also on the Working Families line)
- Hometown
- Geddes, N.Y.
- Date of Birth
- Not listed in official biographies reviewed
- Current Position
- State Senator, 50th District
- Background
- CWA lineman and president of CWA Local 1123; Onondaga County legislator
- In Office Since
- January 2025
EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY
Ryan grew up on Syracuse’s west side, in the town of Geddes, and graduated from Westhill High School, according to his Senate biography. He earned an associate degree in criminal justice from Onondaga Community College and then went on to Buffalo State College, where he finished his studies.
At Buffalo State he earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice before going to work for the phone company. He and his wife, Erin, a public school teacher, have four children: Maeve, Aidan, Molly, and Declan, according to his Senate biography. PagPol could not confirm his date or place of birth and found no record of military service.
The Science and Industry Building at the New York State Fairgrounds in Geddes, the west-side Syracuse suburb where Ryan grew up and served on the town board. (Photo: Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
UNION AND LOCAL OFFICE, 1997 TO 2024
Ryan trained as a lineman with the Communications Workers of America and became a union shop steward in 1997, according to his Senate biography. He won a seat on the Geddes Town Board in 2005, later serving two years as deputy supervisor and chairing Zoning and Planning. Over roughly the same decade he was executive vice president of CWA Local 1123.
In 2011 he joined the Onondaga County Legislature, where he became minority leader, chaired the Public Safety Committee, and served as vice chair of Ways and Means. In 2014 he became president of CWA Local 1123, and his biography credits him with attracting and retaining jobs for nearly 800 union workers. He stayed in the legislature until he joined the Senate.
THE 2024 RACE
The seat had been close before. In 2022, John Mannion beat Republican Rebecca Shiroff 61,579 to 61,569, a certified margin of 10 votes. In November 2023, Ryan said he would run for the open seat after Mannion opted to run for Congress. Assemblyman Al Stirpe and former Oswego County legislator Tom Drumm were early Democratic rivals.
“It’s going to be a tough district to hold on to,” Ryan said as he entered the race, according to WRVO. Drumm stayed in, and on June 25, 2024, Ryan beat him in the Democratic primary by “nearly 2,000 votes,” WRVO reported. His Republican opponent in November was Nick Paro, the Salina town supervisor.
That fall the campaign turned on public safety, immigration, health care, and the cost of living. Paro attacked bail reform and New York’s sanctuary policies. Ryan answered that his opponent seemed to want to “fan the flames of hate when it comes to immigration,” and added, “Central New York is better than that,” according to WRVO.
On election night Ryan led by about 500 votes, within the recount threshold, and he declared victory 10 days later, on Nov. 15. Paro conceded, saying public safety and affordability “must be tackled” in the coming session, according to WAER. The election night lead amounted to 0.34 percent of the vote.
The certified result gave Ryan 81,673 votes to Paro’s 80,163, a margin of 1,510, according to certified state results. “I have the good fortune of having 20 years’ experience in government,” Ryan said that December as he prepared for Albany, according to WAER.
2024 general election margins, upstate Democratic state senators
RyanOther Democratic senators
Winning margin in percentage points in November 2024. Ryan’s 1,510-vote win was the closest of the eight. Source: New York State Board of Elections certified results, compiled in PagPol’s Data Spine.
THE FIRST TERM, 2025
Ryan took office on Jan. 1, 2025, as part of the Senate’s Democratic majority. On June 9 he voted for the Medical Aid in Dying Act (S138), which passed the Senate 35 to 27, according to the Senate record. Sen. Mark Walczyk, a Sackets Harbor Republican, voted no.
By July he had passed 31 of the 67 bills he sponsored in his first session, according to WRVO. The station also credited him with helping secure $450 million for a new Upstate University Hospital emergency department and $116 million for Onondaga County water infrastructure tied to Micron’s planned chip plant.
On Nov. 7, 2025, after the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency accepted Micron’s final environmental impact statement, Ryan said the project must deliver for workers, neighborhoods, and small businesses, according to his Micron statement. Five days later, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed his vintage snowmobile bill into law.
That bill, S.7200B, creates vintage registrations for snowmobiles more than 30 years old, with fees going to trails, and takes effect in 2028. Rollie Scroger, executive director of the New York State Snowmobile Association, backed it, according to the Senate announcement. PagPol could not find its chapter number.
On Dec. 11, 2025, James Corl, 23, of Cicero, announced a run for the seat. A former legislative director for Walczyk, he said “onerous regulations and policies coming out of Albany make life harder for people,” according to Spectrum News. He also pointed to a $17 billion increase in the state budget from 2022 to 2025 and called state spending “unsustainable,” the Palladium-Times reported.
THE 2026 SESSION
In February 2026 Ryan joined a Senate Democratic package of bills to lower utility rates, and PagPol could not find its outcome. On March 12, the Senate’s one-house budget included his S.6956B, which raises the earnings limit for retirees working in public service from $35,000 to $50,000, and S.7635, an optional 25-year retirement plan for 911 dispatchers.
PagPol could not confirm whether either bill survived the final budget. On May 12 the Senate passed his S8483C, which bars online retailers from setting prices based on a shopper’s device or battery level, according to a Senate passage announcement. PagPol found no Assembly action on the bill.
On May 29 the Senate passed his S4850, requiring insurance coverage for some mammograms, for the second straight year. It had passed 60 to 0 in March 2025 before dying in the Assembly. The Senate also passed his S9616, which removes a 10-year lookback for persistent sexual abuse. Both remain in Assembly committee.
On June 2 the Senate passed his S.6912A, which lets licensed mental health practitioners treat workers’ compensation patients, and S.8283A, which requires 90 days’ public notice before a municipality ends water fluoridation. “Residents deserve to know when significant changes are being made to their public water supply,” he said in a fluoridation notice release.
On June 4 the Senate passed, 59 to 1, the Assembly version (A3191A) of his S10438, which lets applicants whose physical disability keeps them from standing complete concealed carry live-fire training while seated. Because the Senate took up the Assembly bill, the measure has passed both houses, according to the bill record.
Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse. WRVO credited Ryan with helping secure $450 million for a new emergency department there. (Photo: Kiran891, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
THE 2026 CAMPAIGN
The June 23, 2026 primaries for the seat were canceled because no one filed against Ryan or Corl, according to Ballotpedia. Corl runs on the Republican and Conservative lines. PagPol found no public polling on the race. Both campaigns began drawing public matching funds at the end of June.
On Sept. 9 Ryan delivered $300,000 to the Oswego Fire Department for breathing apparatus and $250,000 to the Town of Hastings, according to Oswego County News. By Sept. 17 he had reached $375,000 in state matching funds. Corl reached the same total on Oct. 5, about four weeks before Election Day.
THE DISTRICT AND THE PARTY MATH
The 50th District covers much of suburban Onondaga County plus Fulton, Oswego city, Phoenix, and Hastings in Oswego County. It had “almost 3,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats” in 2024, according to Central Current. PagPol could not find presidential results for the district or confirm the Senate’s exact seat count.
Oswego County, which makes up the district’s northern portion, leans heavily Republican: it had 34,610 active Republicans, 16,279 Democrats and 19,330 voters with no party in February 2026, according to state figures in PagPol’s Data Spine. Onondaga County supplies Ryan’s base. He shares Onondaga with fellow Democratic senator Rachel May, and the national Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee lists him as a target candidate.
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS
Ryan chairs the Senate’s Cities 2 Committee. He also sits on the Agriculture, Cannabis, Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy and Telecommunications, Health, and Labor committees, along with a joint task force on opioids and overdose prevention, according to his Senate biography. His bills reflect several of those posts.
Ryan voted for the Medical Aid in Dying Act (S138), which passed the Senate 35 to 27 on June 9, 2025. PagPol could not find his votes on the budget bills or any interest group ratings. He took office after the votes on the Reproductive Health Act, the climate law, and Clean Slate, so he cast no votes on those measures.
WHY HE RAN AND WHAT HE BELIEVES
Ryan said he ran in part to make sure the region has “all the workforce development that we need” as the economy grows. “We need to meet that challenge and I want to work hard for that,” he told WRVO in 2023. He has also made health care a central theme of his campaigns since his first Senate run.
“People should not have to go without health care in 2024 in the United States of America,” he said during the 2024 primary campaign, according to Spectrum News. In his first term his health bills have covered mammogram coverage and mental health care for injured workers.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE
Ryan’s committee, Chris Ryan for CNY 26, received $375,000 in state public matching funds for 2026 across five payments from June 30 to Sept. 17. Corl For Senate received the same total across five payments ending Oct. 5, according to the Public Campaign Finance Board’s June 30 distribution and later reports.
Ryan’s first general election payment, $297,298 on June 30, was the fourth-largest Senate payment in that report, behind Rory Lancman, Joseph Rand, and Stephen Chan. PagPol could not find his total raised, spending, cash on hand, or top donors because state Board of Elections filings were not available.
June 30, 2026 public matching fund payments, selected Senate candidates
RyanCorl, Ryan's Republican opponentOther Senate candidates
First general election payments in the June 30, 2026 distribution. Both Ryan and Corl later reached the $375,000 cap. Source: New York State Public Campaign Finance Board.
Ryan collected most of his money early, with $297,298 in June and $51,615 in July, followed by smaller payments of $5,580, $13,655, and $6,852 through mid-September. Corl’s payments were spread more evenly, including $185,670.59 on June 30, $85,026.09 on Aug. 21, and $50,729.58 on Oct. 5.
Under state election law, $375,000 is the most a Senate candidate can receive in public matching funds for a general election, so both campaigns have hit the cap. PagPol did not review Ryan’s 2024 matching fund payments. His treasurer is Holli McKinney, and Corl’s is Christopher D. Daniel.
CONTROVERSIES AND CRITICISM
PagPol found no ethics complaints, lawsuits, or investigations involving Ryan. His opponents have criticized Democratic policy rather than Ryan by name. On bail reform, Paro said in 2024, “That is a policy that had good intentions behind it, with negative consequences,” according to WRVO. “We need to repeal the status of a sanctuary state,” he added.
Paro’s campaign manager, Liam O’Connor, described his candidate as “not beholden to Albany, special interest groups or downstate New York City special interest groups,” according to NCC News, an implicit contrast with Ryan. Corl’s campaign promises “more funding for our First Responders, less on Albany’s special interest,” and Corl has pointed to a $17 billion budget increase.
Ryan has answered by stressing cooperation. “People want to see electeds that just work together and work for them,” he said in a post-election interview with Central Current in 2024. “That’s what I’ve always done.” PagPol found no direct response from Ryan to Corl’s budget figures in the sources it reviewed.
CLAIMS VERSUS THE RECORD
Ryan promised to improve health care access. He has passed S4850 on mammogram coverage through the Senate and S.6912A on workers’ compensation mental health through both houses, and WRVO credits him with help on the $450 million Upstate emergency department. PagPol found no governor action yet on S.6912A, S.8283A, or S10438.
The Seneca Chief replica canal boat docked at Baldwinsville during the 2025 Erie Canal bicentennial. Baldwinsville is in the Onondaga County suburbs west of Syracuse. (Photo: DanielPenfield, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
He pledged to fight utility rate increases, but PagPol could not find the outcome of the February rate package he joined. He has announced district grants, including $300,000 for the Oswego Fire Department and $250,000 for the Town of Hastings, delivered in two stops in September 2026.
He has also sponsored a bottle bill update that would simplify redemption and expand the containers covered without raising the deposit. WRVO noted that bottle bill changes rarely make it through Albany, and Ryan said he would keep pushing for “incremental steps” rather than give up on the idea.
STATE COMPTROLLER AUDITS IN THE DISTRICT
A September 2026 Fulton clerk audit by the comptroller found the City of Fulton’s former clerk-chamberlain kept inaccurate records, did not report monthly to the council, and filed the 2022 and 2023 annual financial reports late. The 2024 and 2025 reports remained unfiled.
PagPol found no 2025 or 2026 comptroller audits of Onondaga County entities in the releases it reviewed. None of the audit findings PagPol reviewed involved Ryan or his Senate office, and the Fulton audit concerned the city’s own record-keeping rather than any state legislative business.
LOOKING AHEAD
Ryan faces Corl on Nov. 3 in a seat decided by 10 votes in 2022 and 1,510 in 2024. Corl announced a 150-mile walking tour of the district this spring, and both candidates hit the matching fund cap. Three of Ryan’s bills await the governor. For more, visit PagPol’s Onondaga County page or subscribe to the Onondaga County newsletter.
