New York Legislator Linda Ervin Recruits Black Successor

The first Black woman to serve as a minority leader representing parts of DeWitt and Syracuse passes the torch to an Afro-Latina legislator.

In November 2023, Linda Ervin, the first Black woman to serve as a minority leader representing parts of DeWitt and Syracuse in New York, passed the torch to 49-year-old Nodesia Hernandez. Hernandez will be one of four Black legislators, the most ever to serve at one time. She is also the first Afro-Latina to be elected to Onondaga County government.

Ervin said she stayed two extra years to recruit someone who looked like her and shared her views, Syracuse.com reported.

“It’s important in a government body made up of mostly white, mostly male, mostly suburban lawmakers who set budgets and policies on social services, health, and public safety,” Ervin explained, according to the site. The women met in the legislature chambers in early December 2023 so Hernandez could attend the Democratic caucus and observe a session. “We grow up thinking that you would never even want to step into a room like this, let alone be employed in a room like this,” Hernandez remarked.

Hernandez said she will draw on her experience as a single working mother to inform decisions about the county’s $1.5 billion budget. Issues like housing, zoning, and transportation are important to her, and she opposes spending $85 million on a new aquarium.

Like Ervin, the site noted that Hernandez wants to represent all constituents, not just those in her district. She referenced a recent viral video calling Syracuse one of the five most dangerous cities in the state. “It’s time for change. We have to make sure our county resources are available to everyone. We have to step out of that TikTok,” Hernandez asserted.

Ervin said she worked hard as a legislator and is proud to have recruited Hernandez as her successor. “She and I both grew up in public housing, so we have a different perspective about people who live in public housing, whereas some of the folks on the other side of the aisle don’t have that perspective,” Ervin explained.

Hernandez intends to carry on Ervin’s advocacy beyond district lines. “I tell her she’s an honorary county legislator for another year,” Hernandez said. “I’m definitely going to make sure I continue fighting for things she fought for and add on and build on to those things.”

Ervin has found it increasingly difficult to persist in her last term as politics becomes more divisive. She chooses her public battles carefully, like a 2022 resolution condemning the racist actions of the 1795 Board of Supervisors. It was an uncomfortable day, but Ervin felt it important to acknowledge the county’s racist history formally, Syracuse.com also noted.

After over a decade of entering the Onondaga County Courthouse through the employee entrance, Ervin is still occasionally questioned by the guards about why she is there. The 76-year-old, who has served as a county legislator since 2011, suspects it’s because she doesn’t resemble most of her 15 colleagues on the 17-member board.