Over 30 people gathered at Redbud Cooperative in Von Cramm Hall on Friday for the launch of Hannah Shvets’ ’27 campaign for a Fifth Ward Common Council seat. At the event, Shvets discussed a platform focused on housing and labor reform.
Shvets hopes to fill Alderperson Clyde Lederman’s ’26 seat. Lederman announced he will not seek re-election in November to pursue a second term, with the seat up for the Nov. 4, 2025, Tompkins County general election.
A sophomore in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Shvets moved to Ithaca with her family from Texas in 2016. She attended Ithaca High School where she wrote for student-run newspaper The Tattler.
At Cornell, she is the president of the Classic Literature at Cornell club and a research assistant in ILR researching the gig economy. She is also involved in local political groups including the Cornell Chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America, the Ithaca Chapter of the Communist Party USA and Cornell University Progressives.
“I've lived here for close to a decade, and the last two years, as I've gotten more involved in Ithaca politics, I've realized just how much I love this city and how much I want to be a part of the future of this city,” Shvets said.
Shvets is a student fellow at the Tompkins County Workers’ Center — an organization behind the push to adopt Just Cause employment protections in Ithaca. She has previously advocated in a guest piece for The Sun for the city to adopt the measure.
Just Cause legislation introduced to the Common Council last year stipulates that employers cannot terminate employees without at least a 30-day notice outlining the performance issue and specific steps they can take to address concerns.
Jorge DeFendini ’22, who was elected in 2021 to represent Fourth Ward but lost re-election to write-in candidate Patrick Kuehl ’24 (D-Fourth Ward) also attended the launch. DeFendini, who is running to represent First Ward in November, said most students who run for office in Ithaca do it to “pad their resumes” but said Shvets’ campaign was about putting the community first.
“That's not what she is about. From the first moment I saw Hannah and the work that she's been doing, it's clear to me that selflessness is what's guiding her, and that's why she's running — not to pad her resume, but to put her community first.” Defendini said.
Shvets vowed to make it a priority to pass Just Cause legislation if she were to be elected citing concerns over the fragility of federal protections from the National Labor Relations Board since President Donald Trump fired one of its members — rendering the board unable to work, according to CBS.
“If the federal government cannot provide for us, which they have shown us they cannot, we need to have a local NLRB, which would be the worker rights commission created by Jorge's Just Cause [legislation].” Shvets said
Shvets campaign is endorsed by a couple of Ithaca-based organizations, including Cornell YDSA, Ithaca Democratic Socialists of America, the Ithaca Tenants Union and Sunrise Ithaca.
ITU member Sarah Curless spoke at the launch event, praising Shvets’ positions on housing and her support for increasing rent stabilization efforts and eliminating single-family zoning.
“Hannah's role as a tenant, as a young person and as an organizer, is who we want to see representing us on Common Council,” Curless said. “This is a progressive tenant-majority city, and as ITU, we want to continue to have a tenant majority represent us on [the] council, something we have fought hard to achieve.”
In a conversation with The Sun after the event, Shvets reflected on the recent actions taken by the council, including negotiating to increase funding from Cornell to the city.
“I think that the Common Council is in a difficult position, because a lot of these things are not really negotiated by them, so I think that, I'm sure that they did their best, but I think that more could be done,” Shvets said. “And I feel [that] as an Ithacan, and as a Cornell student, I'm willing and able to do that.”
She stressed her campaign was centered around housing and labor reform and Ithaca-Cornell relations because she believed local Ithacans and Cornell students could both live in the city and benefit one another.
“I would say my campaign is for a more affordable and just Ithaca, that's kind of my line,” Shvets said. “It's not enough to just prioritize cheaper eggs, because that gets us into situations where we're neglecting human rights. And these things always need to be paired together.”
The primary election for the Democratic Party will take place on June 24.
Update, 2/10, 7:45 p.m.: This article has been updated to remove a now outdated statement about open seats in the Tompkins County general election.
Gabriel Muñoz is a member of the class of 2026 at the College of Arts and Science. He serves as city editor for the 143rd editorial board. He previously served as city editor for the 142nd Editorial Board and news editor for the 141st Editorial Board. He can be contacted at gmunoz@cornellsun.com.
