Penfield lawyer, mom and activist announces Senate bid to unseat Rich Funke

A Penfield lawyer, mother and activist announced Monday she will challenge state Sen. Rich Funke's re-election bid.

"It's our future, our choice," said Jen Lunsford, 36, making her announcement at the Monroe County Democratic Committee headquarters.

The 55th Senate district encompasses the eastern Monroe County towns of Irondequoit, Penfield, Perinton, Pittsford, Mendon and Rush and the western Ontario County towns of Victor, East Bloomfield, West Bloomfield, Richmond, Bristol, South Bristol, Canadice and Naples. Party enrollment leans Democrat. Yet Funke, 69, unseated a Democrat when he first won election in 2014, then the Perinton Republican ran unopposed two years later.

Lunsford, who grew up on Long Island and has lived in the local area since 2009, is a lawyer at Segar & Sciortino and co-chair of the progressive legal activist group Lawyers for Good Government.

She described the 55th District as "blue, leaning purple," and highlighted the Republican-controlled Senate's overwhelmingly male membership. As a working mother of a toddler, she argued, she would better reflect the district.

Funke countered in a statement, saying, "It cannot be overstated that no upstate elected Democrat in the Senate will truly represent the interests of Rochester and the Finger Lakes area over downstate interests.” That, in turn, drew a rebuke from Monroe County Democratic Chairwoman Jamie Romeo, calling Lunsford, “a strong, empowered woman" and that "to imply that her voice is not her own goes to the very heart of why she is running.”

The back and forth provided an early glimpse of likely themes in this campaign.

Lunsford said Funke had not been as strong as she would like on women's issues, and criticized his record on guns and his opposition to the SAFE Act. Romeo highlighted Funke's high rating by the National Rifle Association.

If elected, Lunsford said one issue she would focus on would be the cost of childcare, seeking a public-private partnership that would encourage businesses to offer on-site daycare, flex spending accounts or direct subsidies.

Funke said he had delivered for the region on school aid and taxes, "enacting equal pay for women, and supporting a better business environment while protecting the rights of workers."

BDSHARP@Gannett.com