In a campaign that was the most expensive primary race ever in Buffalo, State Senator Sean Ryan defeated acting Mayor Chris Scanlon on Tuesday. The victory margin was nearly 3,000 votes. The other three candidates trailed far behind.
Here is the summary with all districts reporting:
- Sean Ryan – 12,249 votes – 46 percent of total vote
- Chris Scanlon – 9,278 votes – 35 percent
- Garnell Whitfield – 2,136 votes – 8 percent
- Rasheed Wyatt 2,023 votes – 8 percent
- Anthony Tyson Thompson – 632 votes – 2 percent
Total turnout was 26,368 votes, representing about 27 percent of the Democrats in the city. That is about 3,100 fewer votes than the average turnouts in Democratic primaries for mayor in the past five elections.
The results represent a considerable victory for the Erie County Democratic Committee, which endorsed Ryan, and for Party Chairman Jeremy Zellner.
Considering the fierce competition during the primary, highlighted by a huge volume of TV advertising, the size of Ryan’s winning margin was significant. Scanlon had his substantial base in the South District and financially had the backing of much of the city power base that had previously supported Byron Brown’s runs for the office. Ryan vote-wise did well in his Delaware District base and raised a significant amount of cash from the unions and individuals who have supported him in his legislative campaigns.
Ryan’s hard-hitting commercials linking Scanlon to Carl Paladino had a substantial effect on the vote. Both election teams have privately acknowledged the impact.
Going forward Ryan has a substantially depleted campaign treasury while Scanlon had more than $300,000 cash-on-hand as of June 9th. Maybe he was hedging in the primary while contemplating the November election. Whether spending more would have resulted in a closer or winning result for Scanlon is debatable.
There is still a contested election for the office in November. Scanlon has an independent line, as does Michael Gainer. Whitfield also filed independent petitions which have been challenged by Scanlon’s team. Ryan is on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines while James Gardner, who lost the race for Erie County District Attorney by a large margin last year, is on the Republican and Conservative lines at least for now. There remains much discussion about whether he has only been a placeholder candidate who might be replaced by a different candidate.
Hovering over the primary and general elections is the issue that will dominate much of the attention of whomever is sworn in on January 1, 2026. While all of the candidates have addressed many subjects such as public safety; the city’s streets and parks; education; and housing, all of those matters channel back to the financial resources that the city has available to fund the programs.
The budget for the year beginning on July 1, as proposed by acting Mayor Scanlon and approved by the Common Council, is structurally imbalanced with operating expenses exceeding operating revenues. The state-authorized hotel occupancy tax and the creation of a Parking Authority will provide some significant one-time relief if everything works out as projected. Other uncertain revenues and underestimated expenses, however, will outrun the one-time revenues.
The Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority has recently reviewed the city budget and has again raised serious concerns.
Republican races for town supervisor in Erie County
Republicans had primary races for town supervisor in Alden, Amherst, Elma, Hamburg, and Orchard Park. The Party in Erie County has traditionally had fewer primaries than the Democrats. Party endorsed candidates won in four of the five towns, the exception being in Elma.
Here is a summary of those results:
Alden – Total Voter Turnout: 634; 22 percent of registered Republicans
Colleen Pautler – 387 votes – 61 percent
Michael Retzlaff – 245 votes – 39 percent
Amherst – Total Voter Turnout: 2,930; 12 percent of registered Republicans
Dan Gagliardo: 1,667 votes – 57 percent
Dennis Hoban: 1,255 votes – 43 percent
Elma – Total Voter Turnout: 734; 19 percent of registered Republicans
Wayne Clark – 477 votes – 65 percent
Lee Kupczyk – 253 votes – 34 percent
Hamburg – Total Voter Turnout: 1,836; 14 percent of registered Republicans
Beth Farrell-Lorentz – 930 votes; 51 percent
Joshua Collins – 905 votes; 49 percent
Orchard Park – Total Voter Turnout: 1,546; 19 percent of registered Republicans
Joseph Liberti – 1,191 votes; 77 percent
Eugene Majchrzak – 349 votes; 23 percent
Bluesky @kenkruly
Twitter/X @kenkruly
Threads kenkruly
