Svante Myrick

Svante L. Myrick (born March 15, 1987) is an American politician who formerly served as the mayor of Ithaca, New York. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Raised in the town of Earlville, New York, Myrick was elected to the Ithaca Common Council in 2007 while he was a student at Cornell University. After graduating from Cornell in 2009, Myrick ran for mayor of Ithaca in 2011; he defeated two candidates in the Democratic primary and won the general election with 54.9% of the vote. Upon taking office in 2012 at age 24, Myrick became the city's youngest mayor and its first mixed race mayor. Myrick is known for his 2016 proposal to create a city-run supervised heroin injection site. He was re-elected in 2015 and 2019. On January 5, 2022, Myrick announced that he had accepted an offer to serve as Executive Director of People For the American Way. On January 1, 2023, Myrick assumed the role of president and CEO of People For the American Way. Early life and education Born on March 15, 1987, Myrick has three siblings. Myrick's father, Jessie, is black; his mother, Leslie, is white. During his infancy, Myrick and his family experienced periodic homelessness. Jessie Myrick's struggles with drug addiction (specifically, an addiction to crack cocaine) led Leslie Myrick to move her four children from Florida to Earlville, New York, a small village of 900. Myrick was raised in Earlville by his mother and his maternal grandparents, Wilbur and Phyllis Raville. Myrick's family struggled to get by and depended on food stamps, with Leslie Myrick working multiple jobs to provide for her children. Myrick attended public schools and graduated from Sherburne-Earlville High School in 2005. He had asthma while in high school. Myrick then studied communication at Cornell University, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and a leader of the Interfraternity Council and Quill and Dagger society. He began his public-service career though volunteer activities while a student, including working with the REACH program (Raising Education Attainment Challenge) and the Ithaca Youth Council. Myrick graduated from Cornell in 2009.