Cindy Schultz
State Sen. Rachel May never planned to run for office, and when she finally did, she didn’t expect to win. The Syracuse resident spent her entire career in higher education, while dabbling in progressive political activism. But she decided to challenge seven-term incumbent state Sen. David Valesky in 2018 because he belonged to the Independent Democratic Conference, a group of Democrats that caucused with Republicans. Despite a deal that reunified the IDC with the mainline Democrats in April 2018, May was one of six successful challengers to the eight ex-IDC members and the only victorious one outside New York City.