Richard Claude "Rich" David (born May 14, 1976) is an American politician and journalist. He served as the mayor of

Binghamton, New York Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...

from 2014 to 2021. He ran for the 52rd district of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Education and early career

David graduated from

Allendale Columbia School Allendale Columbia School (often shortened to Allendale Columbia or abbreviated as A.C.) is an independent, nonsectarian, college preparatory school for students in nursery through twelfth grade in Rochester, New York, USA. The Columbia School for ...

in 1994. He then attended

St. John Fisher College St. John Fisher University is a private liberal arts college in Pittsford, New York. It is named after John Fisher, an English Catholic cardinal and saint. It was named St. John Fisher College until July 1, 2022. History St. John Fisher Univers ...

where he studied communications and political science. While at St. John Fisher College, David worked as a production intern at a local television station. In 1998, David moved to Binghamton to start his career in journalism as a general assignment reporter for

WBNG-TV WBNG-TV (channel 12) is a television station in Binghamton, New York, United States, affiliated with CBS and CW+. The station is owned by Gray Television, and maintains studios on Columbia Drive in Johnson City and a transmitter on Ingraham Hil ...

. While covering local politics, he met then-Mayor Richard A. Bucci and became interested in public service. In 2000, Bucci appointed David as City Hall's Director of Community Relations, a position in the Mayor's Office that handled public information, media relations and constituent communications. In 2002, David received his

Master of Public Administration The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...

from

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university with campuses in Binghamton, New York, Binghamton, Vestal, New York, Vestal, and Johnson City, New Yor ...

while working at City Hall. In 2004, David was appointed Deputy Mayor, a position that provides professional support and advises the Mayor in all matters related to the daily operation of city government. In 2006, David left local government as the term-limited Bucci administration came to an end. He was hired as public affairs officer at

SUNY Broome Community College SUNY Broome Community College (SUNY Broome) is a public community college in Broome County, New York. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY). The college was founded in 1946 and has gone through several name changes. The school i ...

. In 2008, David and his development firm Confluence Enterprises completed work restoring a historic downtown Binghamton building into a loft apartment where David now resides, investing $250,000 in the revitalization effort. In subsequent years, Confluence Enterprises has invested in various real estate holdings and businesses in Binghamton.

Mayoral campaigns

2009

David first ran for Mayor of Binghamton in 2009, attempting to unseat incumbent Matthew T. Ryan. In the general election, David ran on the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

lines against Ryan, who ran on the Democratic and

Working Families Party The Working Families Party (WFP) is a minor political party in the United States, founded in New York in 1998. There are active chapters in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Nev ...

lines, and third-party candidate Douglas Walter Drazen. David came in second place in the three-way race.

2013

In 2013, four years after he had lost to Ryan, David again ran for Mayor of Binghamton. In the Republican primary, David received 939 votes—61 percent—beating challengers Douglas Walter Drazen with 433 votes and Edward Hickey with 164 votes. In the general election, David beat Democratic Binghamton City Councilwoman Teri Rennia by 6.79% and was elected Mayor of Binghamton.

2017

In 2017, Rich David ran on the Republican, Conservative, and Independence lines for reelection as Mayor of Binghamton. He was challenged by former Deputy Mayor Tarik Abdelazim, who ran on the Democratic and Working Families lines.

Mayoralty

David was sworn into office as Mayor of Binghamton on January 1, 2014.

Law enforcement

One of David's major campaign promises was to increase the number of officers in the Binghamton Police Department which had been cut by 14 percent during the Ryan administration. David restored seven officers in his first year in office.

Infrastructure

In 2014, Binghamton's $7 million

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

plan improved more than 11 center line miles of city streets. In 2015, city was set to receive 15 miles of street improvements as part of a $8 million plan. In 2015, David initiated a $4 million plan to convert the city's roughly 7,000 streetlights to

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...

technology.

Budget management

As part of David's push for municipal budget stability, his first budget included a 0.48 percent residential property tax increase, the second-lowest increase in 17 years.

References

External links

City of Binghamton, Office of the Mayor
{{DEFAULTSORT:David, Richard C. 1976 births 21st-century American politicians Mayors of Binghamton, New York New York (state) Republicans Living people People from Pittsford, New York St. John Fisher University alumni Binghamton University alumni