Voting with power starts before Election Day. It means knowing who is on the ballot, what they have done, and how their priorities connect to the needs of our families and neighborhoods. A candidate’s race, party label, or campaign slogan is not a substitute for that work. A vote is a tool, not a favor handed out automatically.

This guide reviews Black candidates whose identities are publicly documented, the races they are in, and some of the other contests Rochester-area voters may see. It does not tell you whom to vote for. The Monroe County Board of Elections does not classify candidates by race, and not every voter receives the same ballot. Use the county’s certified candidate list and sample-ballot lookup to confirm your own races.

Early voting runs October 24 through November 1. General Election Day is Tuesday, November 3; polls are open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Find locations and details at the Monroe County Board of Elections.

The Black candidates on the ballot

Adrienne Adams: lieutenant governor on the Hochul ticket

Former New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams is running for lieutenant governor with Governor Kathy Hochul. The official ballot lists the Hochul–Adams ticket on the Democratic and Working Families lines. Adams is not running for governor separately.

Adams is a Black woman and a former Council speaker. The ticket’s themes include affordability, child care, housing, public safety, and jobs. The opposing Republican ticket is Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Todd Hood. Blakeman’s campaign emphasizes tax and energy-cost reductions and a tougher public-safety approach. Voters can compare the tickets’ proposals with New York’s 2026 State of the State agenda and the candidates’ own campaign materials.

Letitia James: attorney general

Attorney General Letitia James, the first Black person to hold the office, is seeking another term. Her campaign emphasizes consumer protection, civil rights, affordability, gun violence, and holding corporations and individuals accountable. Her Republican opponent, former federal prosecutor Saritha Komatireddy, says she would put greater emphasis on criminal prosecution, public safety, homelessness, and fraud recovery.

The office has broad power over consumer complaints, civil-rights enforcement, and legal actions on behalf of the state. Review James’s priorities and Komatireddy’s campaign platform to compare their approaches.

Samra Brouk: State Senate District 55

Rochester-born Samra Brouk made history as the first Black person from the Greater Rochester area elected to the New York State Senate. Before taking office, she served as a Peace Corps health educator in Guatemala and worked in nonprofit community development. She chairs the Senate Mental Health Committee.

Her record and priorities include mental-health services, the 9-8-8 crisis lifeline, maternal health and doula care, school funding, and support for families. She faces Republican and Conservative candidate Chris Brown, a software engineer and youth-sports volunteer. Brown emphasizes affordability, lower energy costs, school choice, parental involvement, and public safety. Compare Brouk’s official Senate biography with Brown’s campaign priorities.

Demond Meeks and Mercedes Vazquez-Simmons: Assembly District 137

Demond Meeks grew up in Rochester and worked as an administrative organizer for 1199SEIU, where he represented health-care workers and helped mobilize on workplace and community issues. He was also active with the Rochester chapter of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. His Assembly priorities include housing, education, child care, workers’ rights, fair wages, and economic opportunity. In 2020, he was arrested at a protest against an eviction in Corn Hill. A part of his public record on housing advocacy.

Meeks won the June Democratic primary. He is on the November ballot on the Democratic and Working Families lines, facing Republican Dave Ferris and Mercedes Vazquez-Simmons, who is listed on the independent Mercedes Simmons Cares line.

Vazquez-Simmons is vice president of the Monroe County Legislature and president of La Madonna Della Strada, a low-barrier homeless shelter. Her Assembly campaign emphasized reducing crime and poverty, affordability, and homelessness. Ferris’s campaign emphasizes lower taxes and costs, small-business support, public safety, and government accountability. The New York Assembly biography for Meeks and Vazquez-Simmons’s campaign site offer more detail. Public biographical sources describe Vazquez-Simmons as Latina; I do not classify her as Black based on a name or appearance.

Clianda Florence: Assembly District 136

Rochester educator, author, and literacy advocate Clianda Florence is the Republican and Conservative candidate against Democratic incumbent Sarah Clark. Florence founded Strength 2 Say and Let’s Get L.I.T., a literacy organization that works with children and families. Her campaign, under the message “Literacy is Liberation,” emphasizes literacy, parent involvement, school choice, public safety, and affordability.

Clark’s published priorities include public education, health care, jobs and wages, child care, and student mental-health support. Florence’s experience in education and literacy is central to her campaign; voters can compare her platform with Clark’s campaign information.

Kalinda Washington: Assembly District 135

Educator Kalinda Washington is running as a Republican and Conservative against Democratic incumbent Jen Lunsford. Washington has described herself as a Black woman. Her background includes more than 20 years in education, including teaching and childcare leadership. Her campaign focuses on school choice, literacy, public safety, taxes, childcare, and mental-health services. Lunsford’s record and campaign materials focus on affordability, health care, education, and workers. See Washington’s campaign platform and Lunsford’s campaign site.

Maija C. Dixon: Rochester City Court Judge

Judge Maija C. Dixon, an African American judge, is the certified Democratic candidate for Rochester City Court Judge and is running unopposed for a third 10-year term. First elected in 2006 and re-elected in 2016, she has been on the bench for two decades. Before that, she spent more than 11 years in private practice and served as general counsel for a local business. Today she sits as a City Court judge, serves as a cross-assigned Family Court judge, and works as an accessible magistrate.

That combination of roles matters for our community. Rochester City Court is where everyday justice happens: evictions, small claims, criminal arraignments. And as a cross-assigned Family Court judge, Dixon also touches custody and child-welfare matters that affect Black Rochester families directly. An unopposed judge seeking a third 10-year term is one of the longest-lasting decisions a single ballot line can make.

Her stated priority for the new term is access to justice: making sure litigants, especially those without lawyers, understand the process, are treated with dignity, and get timely, fair decisions. She also plans to continue her JUST LAW program, which builds positive relationships between the judiciary and young people.

Voters should also know the full record: in 2016, the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct publicly censured Dixon over improper contact with a judge during her own civil case. Empowered voters read the whole record, not just the highlights — two decades of service and stated priorities on one side, the censure on the other, and your own judgment to apply. Read a recent voter-guide profile, the official candidate certification, and the censure decision.

Other races Rochester-area voters may see

The exact ballot depends on your address. Among the other major contests:

• Congress, NY-25: Democratic incumbent Joe Morelle faces Republican Virginia McIntyre, a Monroe County legislator. McIntyre emphasizes affordability, utility costs, public safety, and government accountability; voters can compare that with Morelle’s congressional record and campaign.
• Governor: Kathy Hochul and Adrienne Adams face Bruce Blakeman and Todd Hood. Compare the tickets’ plans on costs, housing, child care, energy, and public safety.
• State Senate District 56: Jeremy Cooney faces Orlando Rivera. Cooney emphasizes health care, education, and transportation; Rivera emphasizes public safety, school choice, jobs, and fiscal responsibility.
• Other state districts: Depending on where you live, your ballot may also include Senate District 54 (Michael Mills and Pam Helming) or District 62 (Thomas Arida and Robert Ortt), and Assembly races in Districts 130, 133–135, and 138–139.
• Monroe County district attorney: Brian Green is listed as the Democratic candidate and is running unopposed, according to the county’s certified ballot information.

For each race, ask one question: What has this candidate done, proposed, or demonstrated that matters to Black Rochester? Then look for evidence, votes, community work, legislation, budgets, public statements, and follow-through. A party line can help you understand a candidate’s coalition, but it cannot answer that question by itself.

Use the vote deliberately

Malcolm X and Marcus Garvey each argued, in different ways, that self-determination requires organized people who understand their power. Ida B. Wells made that principle visible through fearless journalism and civic action. Wells was a founding participant in the NAACP’s formation. She also had a candid political disagreement with Susan B. Anthony about compromises that excluded Black women from the suffrage movement; the disagreement did not end their friendship. And at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Wells and Frederick Douglass were allies in challenging the fair’s exclusion and misrepresentation of Black Americans, not opponents in a personal confrontation.

That history reminds us that strategy requires both courage and clear-eyed judgment. Before you vote:

1. Study the background. Where has a candidate worked, organized, and served?
2. Match platforms to local needs. Consider housing, schools, jobs, health, safety, and the issues on your block.
3. Compare records, not just labels. Check what incumbents have done and what challengers specifically propose.
4. Make a plan to vote. Early voting is underway through November 1. Election Day is November 3, polls open 6 a.m.–9 p.m. Check your address-specific ballot with the Monroe County Board of Elections.
5. Stay involved afterward. Voting begins a relationship with elected officials; it does not end one.

The goal is not to vote automatically for anyone. It is to be informed enough to choose with intent, and organized enough to hold every winner accountable.