Money is dominating the news these days. Donald Trump’s Middle East War has produced 13 lives lost so far, scores of casualties, and billions of dollars of unbudgeted military spending every week. The war is increasing the costs of fuel, with related increases in the price of many commodities. New York State’s next budget is being debated. Massive deficits, inherited from previous administrations, are causing financial headaches in New York City and Buffalo.
Here are some facts, observations, and heard-on-the-streets:
Donald Trump’s America First agenda seems to be a thing of the past as he jumps from country to country looking to seize control of assets and dominate politics. So, what say yee, MAGA folks about this aggressive globalization?
The war of the moment is in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu is in charge. Vladimir Putin is giving Trump advice. Has the White House noticed that the majority in this country does not support this war. What is his off-ramp? Would he even know what an off ramp was as he passed it?
A catalogue of transgressions and critical comments about Trump’s cabinet is growing by the day. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has been thrown under the bus. Health and Human Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., Attorney General Pam Bondi, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have all demonstrated that their primary interest is pleasing Trump.
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s lack of leadership ability is more evident by the day. He seems okay with a couple of his party’s members mouthing anti-Muslin talk. The Trump/Johnson Republican caucus is hanging by a thread.
The Senate Republican caucus might be getting nervous about November too.
The Republican ticket in New York State, led by Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, is tied with a tight knot to the Trump administration.
Still on the Republican ticket, what do we know about Todd Hood, the candidate for Lt. Governor. Officially, he is the Sheriff of Madison County, population 67,000. What does he know about the large urban settings which dominate the state population? The internet says he is a loyal Trumper who been a very politically active sheriff. What does he bring to the campaign?
A poorly constructed Republican state ticket will dampen the enthusiasm of the party electorate where many already appear content to sit out 2026.
Locally the elections for most Western New York members of the House of Representatives and the State Legislature will not be very competitive. There are, however, a few state legislative races that will draw attention.
In the 61st State Senate District newly elected Senator Jemery Zellner faces Assemblyman Jon Rivera in the June primary. The winner may or may not face a Republican in November. First term Republican State Assemblyman Pat Chludzinski (District 143) is being challenged by Democrat Ryan Taughrin in a district that is heavily Democratic. Incumbent Democratic Assemblyman Pat Burke (District 142) will have West Seneca Supervisor Gary Dickson as his opponent. Burke had a narrow win in 2024, but the district has a large edge in Democratic enrollment. There will be a multiple candidates Democratic primary in the 149th Assembly District, which Rivera is vacating to run for the state Senate.
Rivera and Burke have been using texts to send long messages explaining their campaigns and asking for contributions. I guess this effort is worth a try, since the cost is probably low, but so is the probability of success. I know of such efforts by Burke and Rivera because I have received their texts. There may be other candidates trying the same approach.
The fundraising by state candidates is going to go into overdrive this year as more candidates take advantage of the state’s Public Campaign Financing Program. Several statewide candidates, including Blakeman, have signed up for the Program along with several hundred state legislative candidates. They will be looking for small donations. A $25 donation translates into $300 of state money. In 2024 the Program cost $32 million. It will double or triple this year. Oversight of the spending is spotty at best.
My March 10th post reported on the very limited impact that minor party (Conservative and Working Families) endorsements had on Western New York congressional and state legislative elections in 2020, 2022, and 2024. Just six percent of those elections saw the minor party lines delivering the decisive votes for the winning candidates. Head-of-the-ticket statewide candidates would have won easily without another party line. I decided to expand the review of the subject to minor party support on the local level.
In 2025 in Erie County there were 146 elections for public office. In 77 (52 percent) of those elections there was only one candidate; regardless, some also carried a minor party endorsement.
In the other 69 elections there were twelve candidates who owed their victories to having a second line on the ballot. The breakdown on those candidates: 11 town Council seats and one supervisor candidate in just six of the county’s 28 municipalities; eight were Republicans, four were Democrats; ten of them carried the Conservative line and two had the Working Families line.
When you combine the 77 uncontested lines where a second line was irrelevant with the 69 contested elections, you have eight percent of the local elections in Erie County in 2024 where a minor party line contributed to the winning candidate’s margin. Minor parties exist for their policy or political purposes, but there is not a significant role in helping elect candidates on a major party line to win their elections. Because of the switch to even-numbered years elections for most local offices in the state, you will likely see the same level of impact on local elections in 2026.
It is good to know that people who have been incarcerated can find employment as a chance to move on with their lives. What such individuals do for a living, however, may not fit well with what they went to prison for. Case in point, George Santos.
Convicted (and term-commuted) felon Santos is a reporter/commentator for a local newspaper on Long Island, the South Shore Press. The publisher/editor of that newspaper is former Erie County Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw. Given Santos’ history of lying during his career before and during his brief tenure as a member of Congress, a newspaper might as well hire Pinocchio.
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