Robert E. Antonacci is an American politician and judge from

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

. A Republican, Antonacci served as Onondaga County Comptroller from 2008 to 2018. He was the Republican nominee for

New York State Comptroller The New York state comptroller is an elected constitutional officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the New York state government's Department of Audit and Control. Sixty-one individuals have held the office of State Comptroller si ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, losing to incumbent Democrat Tom DiNapoli. He was elected to the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature, while the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York, its members are elected to two-year terms with no term l ...

in New York's 50th State Senate district in 2018. In 2019, Antonacci was elected as a Justice of the

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the superior court in the Judiciary of New York. It is vested with unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction, although in many counties outside New York City it acts primarily as a court of civil ju ...

—a trial-level court—in the Fifth Judicial District and stepped down from his Senate seat.

Early life and education

Antonacci was born and raised in

, and graduated from

Le Moyne College Le Moyne College is a private Jesuit college mostly in DeWitt, New York. It was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1946, and named after Jesuit missionary Simon Le Moyne. Le Moyne was the first co-educational Jesuit college in the United Sta ...

. Following graduation, he worked with

Ernst & Young EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...

as a

Certified Public Accountant Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Stat ...

. He is married with two children. Following his time as a CPA, Antonacci attended

Syracuse University School of Law The Syracuse University College of Law is the law school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. It is one of only four law schools in upstate New York. Syracuse was accredited by the American Bar Association in 1923 and is a charter member ...

, graduating ''cum laude'', and later entered into a private law practice.

Career

Onondaga County Comptroller

In 2003, Antonacci ran for

comptroller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accountancy, accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior- ...

Onondaga County Onondaga County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 476,516. The county seat is Syracuse. The county is part of the Central New York region of the state. Onondaga County is the core of the ...

as a Democrat, but lost to incumbent Republican Donald F. Colon. However, in 2007, Antonacci was elected to the post as a Republican. After taking office in 2008, he won reelection in 2011 and again in 2015. Antonacci resigned his post after being elected to the New York State Senate in 2018.

Campaigns for New York State Comptroller

Antonacci unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for

in 2010. Four years later, after no other candidates came forward, he accepted the Republican nomination for the 2014 New York Comptroller election, anticipating that he would receive matching funds for his campaign. He failed to raise enough money to qualify for matching funds under the state's pilot program and lost to incumbent

Thomas DiNapoli Thomas Peter DiNapoli (born February 10, 1954) is an American politician serving as the 54th and current New York State Comptroller since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was appointed by a bipartisan m ...

New York State Senate

In 2018, longtime Republican Senator John DeFrancisco announced that he would not seek re-election in Senate District 50. DeFrancisco's decision left the District 50 seat open for the first time since 1992. Soon after, Antonnaci declared his candidacy for the seat. Democrats targeted the district as a prime pickup opportunity, lining up behind the candidacy of public school teacher John Mannion. Although Democrats won control of the New York State Senate in 2018, Antonacci won his election; he defeated Mannion by a margin of 51% to 49%. He was sworn in on December 29, 2018. Antonacci stepped down from his State Senate seat on December 31, 2019 after being elected to the New York State Supreme Court.

Justice of the New York State Supreme Court

Less than a year into his State Senate term, Antonacci accepted nominations to run for a seat on the

New York State Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the superior court in the Judiciary of New York. It is vested with unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction, although in many counties outside New York City it acts primarily as a court of civil ju ...

, Fifth Judicial District. Antonacci sought the judgeship vacated upon the June 2019 death of James Tormey III, one of Antonacci's prominent mentors. In November 2019, Antonacci was elected to the New York State Supreme Court. He participated in a swearing-in ceremony on December 30, 2019.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antonacci, Bob Living people Politicians from Syracuse, New York Le Moyne College alumni Syracuse University College of Law alumni Republican Party New York (state) state senators County auditors in the United States Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century members of the New York State Legislature