Decembers are usually a quiet period in local politics. But quiet does not mean that nothing important is happening.
Buffalo Mayor-Elect Sean Ryan’s Transition Committee is actively engaged in recruiting his City Hall Team. This will be first transformation of the management of city government in twenty years and there is much work to be done. By City Charter the Mayor must submit his proposed 2026-2027 budget to the Common Council by April 8, which is 100 days after he takes office.
Governor Kathy Hochul will call the special election to fill the vacancy in Ryan’s State Senate 61st District seat sometime during the first ten days in January. The election must be held within 40 to 50 days from the date of that call. Since candidates for that office will be selected by the Executive Committees of the four parties there is behind the scenes activity aplenty already going on.
Candidates for the state Legislature are undoubtedly gearing up. Many will be looking to take advantage of the state Public Campaign Financing Program which provided substantial funds to nine local candidates in 2024. The process is complex but very rewarding.
And finally there will be dozens of county and town government public offices back on the ballot in 2026 in a rerun of elections that were just completed this year. There will still be elections in odd-numbered years in cities and for the position of sheriff, which is a state constitutionally created job.
While the ballot will be long the majority of public offices on the ballot will be uncontested, continuing a trend that has been ongoing in recent years. In 2025 fifty-seven percent of the offices on ballots in Erie County had only one candidate. The question is: why?
In the not-so-distant past political parties were able to encourage enrolled party members to put their names up for election for nearly all offices that were to be filled. It was pretty much a “show the party flag” process. To a limited degree it helped promote voting.
It is much harder to get people to do that now. Even for token runs there is work to do getting on the ballot and supporting the rest of the party ticket. Someone who takes a look at a sometimes-overwhelming party enrollment disadvantage may decide “why bother?”
If that someone does decide to make a real run for office, despite the odds, he or she has to raise money or throw in their own cash; get materials printed; and spend a great deal of personal time knocking on doors and attending the events. It is easy to see why credible potential candidates choose to pass on running.
In days gone by candidates with preparation and gumption could get some “earned media” to promote their candidacy. Earned media is basically newspaper and electronic news media coverage that provides a candidate with some free publicity. Locally the decline in political reporting in the Buffalo News and on radio and television newscasts makes it hard for a candidate to break through to the public.
If there is an incumbent running for re-election and that person has a ton of money in his or her campaign treasury a potential opponent might very likely defer. Or maybe the incumbent is highly popular.
Polling indicates that many people, to the extent they consume any news reporting at all, are receiving it through social media. There may be some useful information distributed that way but chatbots and AI-generated stuff make it hard to distinguish between truth and useless garbage intended to deceive the reader.
So the difficulty in recruiting candidates and the difficulty of a serious candidate in promoting themselves in the news media means fewer people running for office. That discourages turnout. In 2025 turnout in the City of Buffalo was just 28 percent and in Erie County as a whole it was not much better – 29 percent.
Elections in even-numbered years, when congressional, statewide, and presidential election are held, usually bring out a bigger turnout. While the head-of-the-ticket races will draw voters, there will be a considerable drop-off in votes cast for local offices.
Lower voter turnout and less public attention for candidates and their causes and programs are negative developments that hurt the local community and beyond.
I wish there was something positive to offer that would point to a greater level of political participation but there are no simple or obvious solutions to this dilemma.
Final campaign financials
Candidates for public office in 2025 were required to file their final financial reports with the state Board of Elections on December first. Here is some information already filed:
Mayor of Buffalo
- Mayor-Elect Sean Ryan raised $1,593,855 during the year and spent $1,608,678. He has $14,041 left in his campaign accounts.
- Republican candidate James Gardner raised $19,295 and contributed $438,514 of his own funds; spent $457,729.
Erie County Comptroller
- Re-elected Comptroller Kevin Hardwick raised $141,972; spent $193,621; and has cash in hand of $18,458.
- Republican candidate Christine Czarnik raised $103,214; spent $100,555.
Erie County Sheriff
- Incumbent Republican John Garcia ran unopposed. He raised $149,953; spent $159,385; and has $491,385 remaining in his campaign committee account. A total of 66,367 voters in Erie County chose not to vote in the race for Sheriff, which was the first election listed on the ballot. Another 6,090 wrote in other names.
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