He was first elected to the New York State Assembly in 2004 and represented the 137th Assembly District, which comprised all of Chemung and Schuyler County and portions of Tioga County. He served three two-year terms in the Assembly.[4]
He is a member of the law firm Davidson & O'Mara in Elmira. He and his wife Marilyn have three children Thomas, Catherine and Caroline and reside in Big Flats, New York.[5]
New York Senate
In 2010, O'Mara was first elected to represent the 53rd District in the New York State Senate after surviving a strong primary challenge from fellow Assemblyman James Bacalles. He defeated Democrat Pamela Mackesey in the general election and took office in January 2011.
In 2011, O'Mara voted against allowing same-sex marriage during the senate roll-call vote on the Marriage Equality Act, which the Senate narrowly passed 33-29 legalizing same-sex marriage.[6]
Since his initial election in 2010, O'Mara has never faced a serious re-election, running unopposed in 2012 and 2014. His closest election came in 2016, when he defeated Democrat Leslie Danks-Burke 55% to 45%. He easily won re-election again in 2018.[7]