The primaries are over, but what happened, why it happened, and what happens next will be a current events discussion about politics and government for weeks to come. Summer might be a little busier than usual.
Here are some facts, observations, and heard-on-the-streets:
Donald J. Trump, according to some recent reporting, thinks he is more powerful than Napoleon, Attila the Hun, Hitler and other despots ever were. My, how someone’s mind can work.
His domestic politics have taken an interesting twist. Politico reports that “Since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, the federal government has taken an aggressive approach to industrial policy, negotiating stock ownership or profit-sharing agreements with at least 19 companies. None have yielded returns, either because the government hasn’t issued regulations to transfer the profits or because it would require selling stock that the administration wants to hold onto as it tries to prop up specific companies.” Hmm! Sounds like the definition of socialism.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, while discussing the possibility of a Democratic takeover of the House in the mid-term elections, told a gathering of Christian Conservatives that “I run the protection program. I’ll take care of you.” Tony Soprano could not have said it any better.
Trump acolyte, Republican candidate for Governor Bruce Blakeman, seems to be having some problems getting his campaign off the ground. Governor Kathy Hochul has extended her lead in the most recent Siena University poll to 20 percent. Blakeman is not letting Trump’s dismal economic outlook get in the way of defending Trump at every possible opportunity. It’s almost like he is auditioning for a job in the last two years of the administration.
Blakeman has submitted petitions that would create a “Vote Affordable Party” as a third line for him on the November election ballot. More than 66,000 signatures were submitted; 45,000 is the number required by state law, but those signatures must come from around the state. The ballot line has not been certified yet. A Vote Affordability Party could cut into the votes that the Conservative Party might normally attract.
As of the morning of this post (June 30), New York City does not have a new budget for the fiscal year that begins tomorrow. Mayor Zohran Mamdani is being criticized by some Council members for not taking care of the things he promised in last year’s campaign. They do not seem to have any problem, however, using a ten-figure one-time budget balancer that phonies up the payment of the city’s employees’ pension plan obligations.
The primary results in New York City, Erie County, and elsewhere in the state demonstrated the strength of insurgent/anti-establishment political organizing and low voter turnout. Where the primary is basically the election, it is all over but the shouting, but if a competitive race is in the offing in November things could turn out differently. Just ask Mayor India Walton.
In the Democratic state Senate primary in the 61st District a total of 18,586 votes were cast. That represents 20 percent of the total Democratic enrollment in the district.
There is a total of nearly 202,000 registered voters in the district. The Republicans and Conservatives are not running a candidate, so Democrat-Working Families nominee Jon Rivera is basically elected. The 10,175 votes Rivera received in the primary amount to 5 percent of the eligible voters in the 61st district.
Cheektowaga Supervisor Brian Nowak has distributed a very interesting chart reviewing turnout in the 38 Early Voting locations in Erie County. There were 9 days of EV, with polls open 8 or 9 hours at all locations. In 38 percent of the locations the per-day turnout was less than one voter per hour. There were no voters on some days in certain locations. 8,126 voters turned out over the 9 days, heavily concentrated on the locations where the Senate and Assembly Democratic primaries were centered. Early voting is more of a convenience for voters rather than a way to improve turnout.
The number of locations set up by the Erie County Board of Elections for early voting has been the same since EV began in the state several years ago. There are 11 locations in the City of Buffalo, where 147,000 people are registered. Amherst, Cheektowaga, and the Town of Tonawanda each have just one location even though 195,000 voters are collectively registered in the three towns.
Word on the street is that former state Senator Marc Panepinto has recently been talking to party folks regarding county Democratic leadership, although it does not seem that he is pursuing a role for himself.
Erie County Democratic Committee Chairman Jeremy Zellner has made it clear that he intends to seek re-election to the chairmanship when members of the County Committee are convened in September. He maintains strong support among party leadership.
Deputy County Executive Lisa Chimera and County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick are both actively engaged in soliciting support to succeed County Executive Mark Poloncarz when his term in office ends in December 2027. Republican names in the mix at this early stage include County Legislator Frank Todaro and former legislator and state Senator Ed Rath. Rath is a candidate for the County Legislature this year.
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