If you were looking for a political earthquake in Rochester and its surrounding towns last November, you might be feeling a bit underwhelmed. Or maybe you're looking at the raw data and seeing a different story. Honestly, the Monroe County election results 2024 tell a tale of two very different worlds: a city that stayed blue but felt a little colder, and suburbs that are starting to show some fascinating cracks in the usual red-vs-blue narrative.
For everyone who spent the night of November 5th glued to their screens, the big takeaway for our corner of New York was that Kamala Harris took the county. No surprise there. She pulled in 214,757 votes compared to Donald Trump’s 145,940. On paper, that’s a solid win. But if you dig into the spreadsheets provided by the Monroe County Board of Elections, you’ll notice that voter turnout actually hit a twenty-year low. Only about 73.7% of registered voters bothered to show up. Compare that to the record-breaking 80.3% we saw back when Obama first ran in 2008, and you start to wonder where everyone went.
The Presidency: A Blue Win with Red Undertones
Kamala Harris won, but she didn’t exactly "crush it" in the way some expected. She actually got about 11,000 fewer votes here than Joe Biden did in 2020. That's a lot of missing energy. Meanwhile, Trump’s local total actually ticked up by 279 votes. It's a tiny number, sure, but in a county that’s been trending more Democratic for years, any Republican gain is a signal.
The Geography of the Vote
The map looks like a classic target. The center (Rochester) is deep blue. The inner ring of suburbs—places like Brighton, Irondequoit, and Pittsford—are also holding the line for the Democrats. In fact, Perinton was the only spot where Democrats actually improved their share of the vote significantly, jumping up by 1.6 percentage points.
But then you head west. If you live in Parma, Ogden, Clarkson, or Hamlin, you saw a different reality. In those towns, Trump pulled at least 57% of the vote. It's almost like there’s an invisible wall between the southeastern suburbs and the western rural-suburban fringe.
Local Power Shifts and the Judiciary
While everyone was obsessing over the top of the ticket, the local races were where the actual "day-to-day" power was being decided. We saw some familiar names and some interesting holding patterns.
✨ Don't miss: The Yucaipa Baby Kidnapping: What Really Happened at the Medical Center
- Sheriff Todd Baxter basically took a victory lap, running unopposed for his third term. People around here seem to like his "middle of the road" approach, and neither party felt like challenging a guy with his level of name recognition.
- The Rochester City Council stayed firmly in Democratic hands. Stanley Martin and Miguel Melendez Jr. kept their seats, which means the progressive "People’s Slate" still has a very loud voice at City Hall.
- Mayor Malik Evans didn't have much of a sweat either, easily defeating Conservative challenger Louis Sabo with roughly 86% of the vote.
The judicial races were a bit more of a scrap. Across the county and the state Supreme Court seats, we saw a lot of "cross-endorsement" drama. In the race for Monroe County Court Judge, Tonia Ettinger (Democrat/Working Families) beat out Mallorie Rulison (Republican/Conservative) with about 60% of the vote. It’s a reminder that even when the presidential race gets tight, the "Blue Wall" of the Monroe County judicial system remains pretty tough to scale for the GOP.
Why the Turnout Dropped
Basically, people are tired. You've probably felt it yourself—the endless mailers, the YouTube ads you can't skip, the texts from "volunteers" you've never met.
In the city of Rochester, the drop was most noticeable. Harris only got about 50,000 votes in the city. To put that in perspective, that’s 7,000 fewer than Biden and almost on par with the low numbers John Kerry saw in 2004. There’s a real conversation happening right now among local organizers about why the urban core isn't as "fired up" as it used to be. Is it the economy? Is it a feeling that local leadership isn't moving fast enough on housing? Honestly, it's probably a bit of everything.
What it Means for 2025 and Beyond
If you're looking at these Monroe County election results 2024 and trying to predict the future, keep your eye on the "Red Shift" in the suburbs. Even though Harris won the county, the GOP outperformed their 2020 margins in almost every single town. Sweden, for example, flipped from a Democratic leaning to a 50.9% win for Trump.
✨ Don't miss: I-95 Fatal Crash: What Really Happened Yesterday and Why This Stretch Stays Dangerous
This suggests that the "suburban flight" from the Republican party might be slowing down or even reversing in some of our blue-collar areas. If you're a local politician, you're looking at these numbers and realizing that the "safe" middle ground is shrinking.
Actionable Insights for Monroe County Residents
- Check Your Registration: Since turnout was low, local parties might be purging voter rolls soon. If you didn't vote in 2024, make sure you're still active for the 2025 local cycles.
- Watch the County Legislature: With the presidential noise gone, the real fights over your property taxes and social services are happening in the County Legislature. That’s where the 2024 momentum will actually turn into policy.
- Engage with Town Boards: The "Westside" shift shows that local town supervisors in places like Greece and Hilton have more influence than ever. Attend a board meeting to see how they plan to use that mandate.
- Monitor Judicial Appointments: We have several local court seats opening up soon. These results show that the Democratic party still has a lock on these, but the margins are moving.
The 2024 cycle is officially in the books. We're a blue county in a blue state, but the "shades" of that blue are definitely changing. Whether you're happy with the results or already looking toward the next primary, the data shows that every few hundred votes in a town like Perinton or Greece are starting to matter more than ever.