Rachel May
2023 - Present
2027
2
Rachel May (Democratic Party) is a member of the New York State Senate, representing District 48. She assumed office on January 1, 2023. Her current term ends on January 1, 2027.
May (Democratic Party, Working Families Party) ran for re-election to the New York State Senate to represent District 48. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Biography
Rachel May lives in Syracuse, New York. May earned a B.A. in Slavic languages from Princeton University in 1978, an M.Litt in modern languages from the University of Oxford in 1981, a Ph.D. in Slavic languages from Stanford University in 1990, and an M.P.S. in environmental science from the State University of New York (SUNY) in 2003. Her career experience includes working as an associate professor of Russian at Macalester College and as the director of the office of environment and society at Syracuse University.[1][2]
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2021-2022
May was assigned to the following committees:
- Senate Aging Committee, Chair
- Senate Agriculture Committee
- Senate Banks Committee
- Cities 2 Committee
- Elections Committee
- Senate Environmental Conservation Committee
- Senate Health Committee
2019-2020
May was assigned to the following committees:
- Senate Agriculture Committee
- Senate Aging Committee, Chair
- Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks and Recreation Committee
- Elections Committee
- Senate Environmental Conservation Committee
- Senate Higher Education Committee
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
See also: New York State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for New York State Senate District 48
Incumbent Rachel May defeated Caleb Slater in the general election for New York State Senate District 48 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Rachel May (D / Working Families Party) | 58.4 | 78,782 |
 | Caleb Slater (R)  | 41.5 | 55,980 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 144 | ||
| Total votes: 134,906 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Rachel May advanced from the Democratic primary for New York State Senate District 48.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for New York State Senate District 48
Caleb Slater defeated Fanny Villarreal in the Republican primary for New York State Senate District 48 on June 25, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Caleb Slater | 55.7 | 2,636 |
| Fanny Villarreal | 43.4 | 2,055 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.8 | 39 | ||
| Total votes: 4,730 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Working Families Party primary election
The Working Families Party primary election was canceled. Incumbent Rachel May advanced from the Working Families Party primary for New York State Senate District 48.
Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for May in this election.
2022
See also: New York State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for New York State Senate District 48
Incumbent Rachel May defeated Julie Abbott and Justin Coretti in the general election for New York State Senate District 48 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Rachel May (D / Working Families Party) | 50.3 | 50,668 |
| Julie Abbott (R) | 42.5 | 42,894 | ||
| Justin Coretti (Conservative Party) | 7.2 | 7,217 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 43 | ||
| Total votes: 100,822 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Rachel May advanced from the Democratic primary for New York State Senate District 48.
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Julie Abbott advanced from the Republican primary for New York State Senate District 48.
Conservative Party primary election
Conservative Party primary for New York State Senate District 48
Justin Coretti defeated Julie Abbott in the Conservative Party primary for New York State Senate District 48 on August 23, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Justin Coretti | 50.6 | 279 | |
| Julie Abbott | 48.1 | 265 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 1.3 | 7 | ||
| Total votes: 551 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Working Families Party primary election
The Working Families Party primary election was canceled. Incumbent Rachel May advanced from the Working Families Party primary for New York State Senate District 48.
2020
See also: New York State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for New York State Senate District 53
Incumbent Rachel May defeated Sam Rodgers and Russell Penner in the general election for New York State Senate District 53 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Rachel May (D / Working Families Party) | 54.8 | 66,643 |
 | Sam Rodgers (R / Conservative Party / Independence Party / Serve America Movement Party) | 44.2 | 53,734 | |
 | Russell Penner (L) | 1.0 | 1,246 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 52 | ||
| Total votes: 121,675 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Rachel May advanced from the Democratic primary for New York State Senate District 53.
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Sam Rodgers advanced from the Republican primary for New York State Senate District 53.
Conservative Party primary election
The Conservative Party primary election was canceled. Sam Rodgers advanced from the Conservative Party primary for New York State Senate District 53.
Independence Party primary election
The Independence Party primary election was canceled. Sam Rodgers advanced from the Independence Party primary for New York State Senate District 53.
Libertarian primary election
The Libertarian primary election was canceled. Russell Penner advanced from the Libertarian primary for New York State Senate District 53.
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Mark Braiman (L)
Serve America Movement Party primary election
The Serve America Movement Party primary election was canceled. Sam Rodgers advanced from the Serve America Movement Party primary for New York State Senate District 53.
Working Families Party primary election
The Working Families Party primary election was canceled. Incumbent Rachel May advanced from the Working Families Party primary for New York State Senate District 53.
2018
- See also: New York State Senate elections, 2018
May also ran in the 2018 election as a Working Families Party candidate.
General election
General election for New York State Senate District 53
Rachel May defeated Janet Berl Burman and incumbent David Valesky in the general election for New York State Senate District 53 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Rachel May (D) | 51.2 | 48,076 |
| Janet Berl Burman (R) | 36.9 | 34,648 | ||
 | David Valesky (Independence Party) | 11.7 | 11,018 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 68 | ||
| Total votes: 93,810 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for New York State Senate District 53
Rachel May defeated incumbent David Valesky in the Democratic primary for New York State Senate District 53 on September 13, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Rachel May | 51.8 | 8,553 |
| David Valesky | 48.2 | 7,943 | |
| Total votes: 16,496 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Janet Berl Burman advanced from the Republican primary for New York State Senate District 53.
Independence Party primary election
The Independence Party primary election was canceled. Incumbent David Valesky advanced from the Independence Party primary for New York State Senate District 53.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Rachel May did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Rachel May did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Rachel May did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of New York scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, the New York State Legislature was in session from January 3 to June 8.
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2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the New York State Legislature was in session from January 4 to June 21.
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2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the New York State Legislature was in session from January 5 to June 4.
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2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the New York State Legislature was in session from January 6 to June 10.
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2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the New York State Legislature was in session from January 8 to December 31.
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2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
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In 2019, the New York State Legislature was in session from January 9 through January 8, 2020.
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2018
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show]. |
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In 2018, the 202nd New York State Legislature, second annual session, was in session from January 3 through June 20.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate New York State Senate District 48 |
Officeholder New York State Senate District 48 |
Personal |
Footnotes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Patricia Ritchie (R) |
New York State Senate District 48 2023-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
New York State Senate District 53 2019-2023 |
Succeeded by Joseph Griffo (R) |
