ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Sabrina LaMar may be Monroe County’s first Black woman president of the county legislature, but you will not be able to find that fact where you would figure it to be promoted the loudest: on the Monroe County Democratic Committee website.

“It reminds me of the days of slavery,” LaMar said. “Black Americans are trying to find their history. So much of it was obscured by people for generations. And here I am, doing what I’m doing, and it’s happening again.”

What You Need To Know

  • Sabrina LaMar is Monroe County Legislature President, the first black woman to serve in the role

  • LaMar was re-elected to her seat in the 27th legislative district in November

  • As an original member of the legislature's Black and Asian caucus, LaMar caucused with Republican lawmakers through 2021

  • Spurned by the legislature's Democratic majority in her bid to become the body's president, LaMar was elected to the president's office when legislature Repubilcans helped elect her
  • LaMar wants Monroe County to support guaranteed basic income, an initiative being started in the city of Rochester

LaMar’s MCDC web profile was removed after she was elected legislature president. Her ascension to the role, at the start of her second term in office and, supported by Monroe County Republican lawmakers, is a development the MCDC has chosen not to recognize.

It’s part of the power dynamic this mother of two and grandmother of three works under at a time when she’s attempting to lead support for equity and reparations into Monroe County government.

The new atmosphere LaMar attempts to set is symbolized by a candle she lights in her president’s office.  The scene of cinnamon that comes from it is not aromatherapy, but to hide a smell that comes from the office's musty carpet. The rug hasn't been changed in years. Neither has the divide between city and suburban politics within the legislature.

"I never thought that this would be something that was even possible," LaMar said of her presidency. "For somebody like me."

For somebody who unsuccessfully ran for city school board seat a few years back, her first run for public office.

"People say that I lost," she said. "But 6,000 people voted for me. I didn’t even know 6,000 people knew me."

Voters in Rochester's 19th ward knew LaMar well enough to elect her to be their county legislature representative in 2019.

In November, voters re-elected her and when the new Democratic majority split on two others to lead the legislature. Republicans made Lamar Monroe County's first black, female legislature president.

"This is way bigger than something I did with my own hands," LaMar said.​

Blessed by Rochester’s most influential Democrat, the late David Gantt, LaMar plans to carry the community change friend Lovely Warren began as Rochester mayor, even though Warren did not win another term in office.

"And to lose all of that from an election I think would be a disservice to the community," said LaMar.

"All of that" will begin with redistricting in the county. Boundaries for Monroe's 22 legislative districts will be reset with census data, including the 27th district, the one LaMar represents. It covers Rochester's 19th Ward.

A public defender must also be chosen for Monroe County — a task also on LaMar's desk.

Then, LaMar expects to move to the front burner: reparations. She wants the county to support the city’s pilot guaranteed basic income program.

The $500 monthly stipend 175 families will receive in its first year, and another 175 will get in its second, will be among the region’s first and,  watched closely.

LaMar believes GBI families that pay bills and get on their feet with the aid will prove its value.

"We need to say if we give a family below the poverty level extra income, how will this impact what they’re doing in the community. Will they be able to purchase homes?" she said. "Will they be able to have higher credit scores? Will they be able to build up their neighborhoods?"

LaMar will build the GBI conversation in the legislature, where she believes long-term support can move it beyond the pilot stage in the same way one of the neighborhood restaurants in her district grows its shoes for the homeless program.

"I think it’s an opportunity to learn, I think it’s an opportunity for a community our county to move forward and to get on board with what other parts of the country are doing," said LaMar. "You know we say we want to take a step forward a stab at poverty. How do we reduce poverty?"

LaMar is a member of the Reparations and Universal Income (RUBI) Committee. She's also vice-chair for Roc Against Gun Violence Coalition, and an Executive Board Member of Rise Up Rochester.

"We have to think outside of the box and be very strategic on how we address poverty," LaMar said. "And some of the avenues we can check to see how we can dismantle it."

LaMar plans to move Monroe County beyond the days of infighting and even more collaborative days when the Morin-Ryan Tax Agreement moved more county revenues to the city. LaMar says she wants people to realize, no matter what their zip code is, the other side of the community matters.

"If we can just get them to marry that relationship then I think that convincing them or getting them to realize the benefits of this how this actually benefits them," she said. "I think that’s an easier way to get them on board."

She knows there will be bridges to build in her own party too. LaMar says there are supporters of GBI on both sides of the aisle in the county legislature, as well as opponents. Whether she can guide the issue amid the hostility she faces within the Democratic party remains to be seen.

LaMar was part of the Black and Asian Caucus that gave Republicans a supermajority in the last legislature. Months after it was established in 2020, she appeared in a social media program involving Robin Wilt, a Brighton Town Council member who was running against Joe Morelle, the one-time MCDC chair and most influential federal Democratic lawmaker in the region.

Inquiries by Morelle’s campaign about her appearance to her employer, RIT, led to LaMar being suspended. LaMar filed a complaint with the Congressional Ethics Office, claiming Morelle threatened to pull federal funds from RIT if she was not fired. Both LaMar, and then-mayor Warren, claimed Morelle was seeking retribution for LaMar calling the congressman’s son, Joe Morelle Jr., a racist. Morelle later apologized. The incident was seen at the time as the conflict between Morelle and Warren playing out in public.

LaMar, with a Democratic majority still in conflict over her rise to the presidency, will need to find common ground to accomplish more than

"This is an opportunity for Rochester when people look back 100 years at the history of Rochester, they’re going to see brown faces," LaMar said.