Maggie Brooks

Who is Maggie Brooks?

Maggie A. Brooks is a broadcasting personality and politician most notable for having served as the first female County Executive of Monroe County, New York.

Brooks graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Political Science in 1977. Her first job out of college was as a general assignment reporter for WHAM in Rochester, New York. In 1980, she became an anchor television reporter for WHEC-TV and later moved into a reporter position. In 1994, she took a job as vice president of programming for Companion Radio in Penfield, New York.

In 1995, she began her political career by winning a seat on the Monroe County legislature, representing an election district centered on Irondequoit, New York. A year later, then-governor George Pataki appointed her county clerk to fill the vacancy left by the former clerk who resigned to head up the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. Voters subsequently elected her to the clerkship in 1997 and reelected her in 2001.

In 2003, she successfully ran for Monroe County executive against then-city mayor William A. Johnson, Jr..

Brooks was considered a potential Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor of New York in 2006, as a running mate for former Governor of Massachusetts William Weld. Weld instead chose New York Secretary of State Christopher Jacobs as his running mate, but later withdrew from the race for the Republican nomination. Brooks was also a contender to be Rick Lazio's running mate New York gubernatorial election, 2010. She was also mentioned as a potential candidate to run for the seat representing New York's 29th congressional district to fill the seat vacated by the Eric Massa who resigned. In 2012, Brooks ran unsuccessfully as the Republican nominee in the 25th congressional district against long-time incumbent Representative Louise Slaughter, losing by 14 points.