India Walton has just ousted a four-term incumbent in a historic upset victory,

[elleng]

bringing her one step closer to becoming the first-ever woman to become mayor of Buffalo, New York. In one of the most significant progressive victories of the 2021 cycle, Walton triumphed over moneyed special interests and an entrenched political establishment by running a people-powered campaign rooted in love and community.

And with no general opponent, Walton is the presumed Mayor of Buffalo, making her the first candidate to unseat an incumbent since 1961.

[tulipsandroses]

1. Good for her! Good news for progressives. A. B. Stoddard was just foaming at the mouth on tv

about if Maya Wiley cannot pull off winning the mayoral primary after being endorsed by AOC, it spells trouble for progressives and how much they will lose in the next election cycle.

[elleng]

2. Yes, good for her.

A. B. Stoddard does NOT foam at the mouth.

[NBachers]

3. From Nate McMurray, a Western New York progressive public figure I follow:

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2021/06/23/india-walton-buffalo-mayor-socialist/5316141001/

[Autumn]

4. And "gasp" she's a socialist!

Walton, 38, was leading Brown by a significant margin late Tuesday, even scoring a majority of votes cast on primary day and in early voting. Her victory followed a left-leaning campaign that built surprising strength in finances and organization in its closing days. While Brown, 62, aired soft TV ads that seemed to reflect strength and confidence, Walton jabbed the mayor as out of touch with average voters, under investigation by a federal grand jury, and a pawn of "billionaire" donors unwilling to relinquish his 16-year grip on City Hall.

The results seem to introduce a new brand of Democratic politics to Buffalo and a rebuke to the steady hand Brown emphasized as his main attribute during a time of "renaissance."

Speaking with reporters late Tuesday, Walton was asked if she considers herself to be a socialist. Her response: "Oh, absolutely. The entire intent of this campaign is to draw down power and resources to the ground level and into the hands of the people."

https://buffalonews.com/news/local/government-and-politics/india-walton-claims-upset-in-buffalo-mayoral-race-byron-brown-pins-hopes-on-absentees/article_0effac1a-d2e3-11eb-af3c-4be5cacd07aa.html?mc_cid=b08d19bb2c&mc_eid=152904af25

[aocommunalpunch]

5. It's not at all shocking.

She doesn’t care about the framing of the right wing. Fuck em.

[Autumn]

6. I don't care about the framing of the right wing either. Fuck em.

[progressoid]

7. !!!!

[Celerity]

8. she's likely toast, NY has no sore loser laws, so Brown's probably going to crush her as a write in

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Buffalo_mayoral_election



https://mcusercontent.com/66365654a89787cb50fec651f/files/a5bd5697-bac1-3c77-5f08-fd3ac629681f/Buffalo_2021_Mayoral_Election.pdf










Potential gov candidate Tom Suozzi backs Buffalo mayor’s bid to ‘defeat the socialists’

https://nypost.com/2021/10/10/rep-tom-suozzi-backs-buffalo-mayor-byron-browns-write-in-campaign/

Rep. Tom Suozzi — who may challenge Gov. Kathy Hochul in a primary next year — backed Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown on Saturday, declaring the Western New York race to be a battlefront in a broader ideological war in the Democratic primary.

During a rally when he made his expected endorsement of the sitting mayor in his write-in campaign against Democratic nominee India Walton, Suozzi (D-Long Island) implored Buffalo residents to do help “defeat the socialists.”

“The eyes of the country are going to be focused on Buffalo. We don’t want to wake up on Nov. 3, and people say, ‘Buffalo just elected the first socialist mayor in the past 50 years.’ We can’t make that happen in Buffalo!” he bellowed on Saturday to a group gathered at Brown’s campaign headquarters. “If we let them win, we will lose everything. We will lose the American people, we will lose New Yorkers, will lose Buffalonians, if we adopt that type of extremist agenda.”

He added, “I’m here to say very, very clearly that we need to elect Byron Brown and defeat the socialists.”