David Bruen seeks to boost local political engagement in candidacy for home county legislature

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Syracuse University senior and Student Association President David Bruen is running to represent District 11 of Rockland County, New York in its county legislature, according to a Twitter announcement on Feb. 9.

Bruen, who is 21 years old, said he’s running in his home community with the goal of creating greater transparency and engagement in local politics, where he hopes his age can benefit his candidacy.

“As a young person, in this moment, we can start to turn the political tides and have a government that is more representative of the people and more engaged and thinking about what our future will look like as a county, so that’s why I decided to run,” Bruen said.

Rockland County, which borders New Jersey and Westchester County, is part of the New York City metropolitan area and includes Bruen’s hometown of West Nyack.

After he saw that the D-11 incumbent legislator, independent Laurie Panutlli, was not running for re-election, Bruen said he made the decision to enter the race relatively quickly. Still, he said he feels confident in the plans and support system for his campaign.

Clyde Lederman, who is also from Rockland County, worked with Bruen on the Rockland County Democratic Committee. Lederman, a senior at Cornell University, is currently running to represent Ithaca’s Ward 5 in its Common Council. He pointed out Bruen’s interest in policy, which he said is sometimes absent from public discussion, as a distinguishing factor in his campaign.

“I sort of completely have a sense that he would operate with a real commitment to the truth and transparency and honesty,” Lederman said. “He represents a certain honest element that I think is absent.”

When the primary election for the seat takes place in June, Bruen will be one month past his graduation from SU’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in May. As he moves forward with his campaign, Bruen said he anticipates his age and perceived lack of experience being a challenge.

But as SA president, Bruen said he represents about 22,000 students between SU and SUNY ESF, just over the roughly 20,000 people he’d represent in Rockland County’s District 11. He said he plans to point skeptics to the similarity in constituencies, as well as his two years of experience in his role at SU.

“I’ve done town halls, I’ve reached out to constituents, to students, and have done a lot of work with negotiations with the administration, with people who hold a lot of institutional power,” Bruen said. “I think the roles really do overlap very well and provide me a lot of great experience to make me a really effective candidate and legislator.”

Bruen highlighted a number of initiatives he’s directed as SA president that will inform his campaign and future work, including on-campus free menstrual product distribution, grocery store trolleys and SA’s December sustainability report.

Bruen also worked to create a student reporting form, No Problem Too Small, to gather student concerns and complaints. He said he hopes to engage in a similar way with Rockland residents and potential future constituents to hear about their concerns in the community and what changes they want to see made.

Brendan Cahill, Bruen’s campaign manager, said Bruen’s leadership experience at age 21 – both from his past political internships, and his time at SU – puts him ahead of many others who run for local office.

“He’s not only been a part of, more or less, a legislative body before, but been the one that’s actually led it and has done a great job doing so,” Cahill said. “A lot of the experience that he has, managing all of what he manages for Syracuse, will translate well to being a member of the body.”

Bruen pointed to the varying party affiliations of representatives in Rockland County as well as its recent redistricting, which he said was another factor in his decision to run. He said he’s willing to speak with anyone to work toward creating beneficial policies, regardless of political party affiliation.

“To be an effective legislator, especially in local government, you have to really look beyond partisan politics,” Bruen said. “(Party affiliation) can stand for your values, and what you believe in and you can be very firm in that, but you also have to still serve the people.”

Lederman said he thinks Bruen’s campaign will benefit both from his support in Rockland County and understanding of its constituency, as well as his time and responsibility at SU.

​​”He’s done a very good job the past couple of years of making friends with a lot of people in Rockland, and I think he understands his constituency very well,” Lederman said. “To me, talking to him about the work he does at Syracuse seems to be sort of a natural flow into the type of work that a legislator does.”

He said Bruen’s experience with SU can translate over to Rockland County’s policy matters, particularly with the county budget.

“David has that eye for a budget and he has a really brilliant opportunity to flip the seat and make our county work for everyone,” Lederman said.

Bruen identified participatory budgeting – which enables lawmakers to meet with taxpayers to discuss concerns and work democratically towards budgets that meet their needs – as a measure he’d work to bring to the Rockland County’s legislature, and said he also wants to focus on sustainability.

Cahill affirmed his expectation that Bruen will prioritize transparency and engagement with his constituents through his campaign and policy proposals, while also working to make himself available and accessible to the community.

“Many people don’t even know what the county legislature even does, so I know that David’s going to be pushing for policies to make people more involved in the process, or at least aware of what’s actually going on,” Cahill said.

As of Wednesday, no other candidate has announced a run for the Rockland County District 11 legislature seat. The Rockland County primary elections will be held on June 27, ahead of the general election on Nov. 7.

Bruen said his next steps are to begin reaching out to Rockland County voters to introduce himself, seek official endorsements and plan for fundraising and other campaign events. He said he feels good about balancing his time between closing out his undergraduate education at SU and starting his campaign.

“I’m going to continue to hone my message, because it’s still early days, and I still have a lot to listen to,” Bruen said. “So I can understand all the issues and all the sides and all the nuances, so I can best be equipped to make the right decisions.”