West Genessee High School educator John Mannion will run for a state Senate seat in central New York that is anticipated to be vacated if Sen. Bob Antonacci continues his lead to win a state Supreme Court judgeship post.

Mannion announced his campaign on Friday for New York’s 50^th Senate District, which he ran for in 2018 and narrowly lost to Antonacci.

“Last year, I ran for State Senate because our communities deserve to get our fair share of state aid, investment, and focus,” Mannion said. “We deserve real leadership and a dedicated public servant who will work to strengthen our schools, invest in job training programs, and protect our water and natural resources. As our next state senator, I will fight for Central New York families and small businesses in Albany.”

Antonacci finished ahead in Tuesday’s election in a race for one of three seats on the state Supreme Court. If he goes on to win when the results are finalized, he will resign his Senate seat. Governor Andrew Cuomo said earlier this week that he would call a special election for the Senate seat sometime in 2020.

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A race to replace Antonacci — one that will likely be closely watched — could provide a flavor for what issues will shape legislative campaigns in the new year.

For Democrats, an optimal outcome would be this: Cuomo schedules a special election for April 28, the same day as the state’s presidential primary, when he is also eyeing a special election to fill the vacant western New York House district led by ex-Rep. Chris Collins.

Unlike Collins’s former seat, the party enrollment divide in the 50th state Senate district is a narrow one. Antonacci defeated Democrat John Mannion by less than 3,000 votes in 2018. Before that, the seat was held by John DeFrancisco for 26 years.

Because of its competitiveness and potential impact on Democratic control of the Senate, the race between Antonacci and Mannion in 2018 was seen as a high stakes one. Nearly $3 million in campaign spending was made on the race, making it one of the costliest contests in the state.

Whomever wins a hypothetical special election in April would be a state senator in practice for a precious amount of time. The legislative session in Albany is scheduled to end early this year to adjust to the new June primary. The session is due to end June 2.

The seat would also be up for grabs again in November 2020’s general election.