May 21
2025
Buffalo mayoral candidates hit the airwaves
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State Sen. Sean Ryan, who’s running for Buffalo mayor in the June 24 Democratic primary, released his first TV commercial two weeks ago. The ad hits the talking points Ryan has been using since he announced his candidacy in November:
- He’s the son of a Lackawanna teacher and a Buffalo firefighter.
- He became a successful housing rights attorney, then a state legislator who brought home money and projects for his districts.
- The city’s infrastructure and delivery of basic services have gone to pot, and he’s got the experience to put things right.
State Senator Sean Ryan’s first TV ad.
The ad doesn’t name his chief rival, Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon, but it ends by describing Ryan as “the Democrat for mayor of Buffalo.”
That’s meant to be a dig at Scanlon, reminding viewers that Ryan has the Democratic Party endorsement, while Scanlon — who is also a Democrat — has the support of Republican businessmen like Carl and William Paladino, Nick Sinatra and others.
Scanlon followed a few days later with his own TV ad, whose theme seems to be: I’m younger than my competition.
“I don’t know how he does it,” a woman says as the commercial opens. “I don’t know when he sleeps,” says another at the end of the 30-second spot.
Acting Mayor’s Chris Scanlon’s first TV ad.
In between is a montage of the acting mayor glad-handing folks at meetings, visiting a work site, walking down the street in conversation with residents — performing the campaign-commercial versions of mayoral stuff. The ad repeats some of the messages the Scanlon campaign tested in a poll a few weeks ago: He is cracking down on slumlords, according to the ad, building affordable housing, helping to create jobs, and putting more cops on the streets.
The ad also says the Scanlon administration has filled 2,000 potholes since he took office. That may be true, but it feels politically dangerous in this city to claim you’ve fixed the roads. Drive down any city street and one of your wheels is likely to fall into a counter-argument.
Both advertisements are currently airing on local stations.
Other candidates prefer Facebook
The three other contenders in the Democratic primary, shorter on campaign cash, have relied on social media videos to introduce themselves to voters.
University District Council Member Rasheed Wyatt discusses his bid for the Democratic line in a video posted to his campaign’s Facebook page. He says lots of folks are mad at him for running, when they should be mad at the city’s budget problems and killer potholes.
Garnell Whitfield, the retired fire commissioner who’s also running in the Democratic primary, has posted a slew of short videos on Facebook in which he talks about the issues he would prioritize if elected mayor, and the aspects of his life experience that differentiate him from the other candidates.
The fifth candidate in the Democratic primary is Anthony Tyson Thompson, a former staffer for Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes. Thompson published this video on Facebook last week, in which he explores “the word at the heart of this campaign.”
That word, he says, is “impossible.”
Scanlon campaign uses city resources … again
The Scanlon campaign just can’t seem to stop itself from using city resources to engage in politicking.
It’s penny-ante stuff, to be sure. First they used the mayor’s office in City Hall as the return address on a mailed invitation to a campaign fundraiser.
Then they had the social media accounts on the city’s webpage linked to Scanlon campaign pages.
The most recent example is a press release sent out Sunday — the day after state Sen. Sean Ryan, Scanlon’s chief rival in this year’s mayoral race, held an event outside the city’s decrepit animal shelter on Oak Street.
Ryan decried the “unacceptable” and “dangerous” condition of the shelter as “a failure of leadership.” And, because he is running for mayor, Ryan blamed Scanlon by name for “refusing to take immediate action” and failing to deliver on “empty promises.” He said the city has failed to apply for state money and to accept help from outside organizations to address the shelter’s deterioration.
Donate to support our nonprofit newsroomThat was Saturday. On Sunday, on the city’s web page, Scanlon put out a statement titled “Mayor Scanlon Announces Future Plans For Buffalo Animal Shelter.”
The press release quotes Scanlon saying the shelter has been one of his “top priorities” since he took office in October. The press release says “the city has identified a new location for a future shelter” that will open in 2026. It doesn’t say where or how much it will cost. Details will be released “in the coming weeks.”
The politicking is in the last paragraph, which quotes Scanlon as saying:
“While Senator Sean Ryan will spend today talking about what’s wrong with the city and stirring emotions, during his 13 years in Albany he hasn’t provided a single dollar or worked with the city to develop any solutions or secure state funding to support the animal shelter. Talk is easy—leadership takes action. And that’s exactly what we’re delivering.”
That part isn’t an informational statement from the mayor’s office. It’s a statement from a candidate about his opponent. But isntead of coming from the campaign, it’s disseminated to the media as a mayoral communication and published on the city’s website.
Ryan reaches out to the suburbs
Meanwhile, the Ryan campaign is reaching outside city limits for volunteers. The campaign early last week sent letters to suburban Democrats who live in Ryan’s state Senate district, where he’s been elected three times.
I was sent a copy of a letter sent to an Amherst Democrat.
“You might not live inside city limits, but what happens in Buffalo impacts all of us across Western New York,” the letter says, before inviting the recipient to join the campaign in knocking on doors or making phone calls in support of Ryan.
“This race will be close,” the letter says.
