Establishment Democrats in Buffalo are celebrating after primary victories against progressive challengers in four Buffalo Common Council districts last night.
- Zeneta Everhart, director of equity and inclusion for State Senator Tim Kennedy and mother of a Tops Shooting victim, beat former mayoral candidate and nurse India Walton with 67% of the vote in the Masten District. She will more than likely take the seat vacated by Ulysses S. Wingo in November.
- Leah Halton-Pope, an adviser for Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, won the nomination for the Ellicott District in a four-way race with just under 50% of the vote. Halton-Pope wasn't endorsed by the Democratic Party but received endorsements from Mayor Byron Brown and outgoing Ellicott District Councilman Darius Pridgen.
- Incumbent Councilman Joseph Golombek Junior beat Buffalo Public Schools teacher Eve Shippens with 70% of the vote in the Northern District.
- Incumbent Rasheed Wyatt beat Kathryn Franco in the University District with about two-thirds of the vote.
The results amount to a defeat for progressives, who had hoped to gain more power in city government. Turnout was low across all Common Council races.
Lindsay Bratek-Lorigo won the Conservative and Republican party primaries for the Erie County legislature's 10th district against incumbent Jim Malczewski. Bratek-Lorigo handily captured the Conservative party nomination but won the Republican primary with just a few dozen votes.
In the Erie County Legislature's fourth district, University at Buffalo police officer Scott Marciszewski won the Conservative Party nomination with under 200 votes.
Erie County isn't the only part of Western New York waking up to results in big races this morning. Niagara Falls Democrats nominated incumbent mayor Robert Restaino to a second term in office. Restaino beat out former City Council member Glenn Choolokian and community activist Demetrius Nix, but he made headlines for grabbing the camera lens of a WGRZ reporter after being asked how he would grade the city under his own leadership.
Party endorsed Mary Ann Cancilla won the Democratic Party nomination for the City of Tonawanda against incumbent mayor Jenna Koch. Koch will appear on the Republican ballot in November.