Jun 16
2025
Buffalo’s race for mayor, by the numbers
- Share on
Last week, Ken Kruly, author of Politics and Other Stuff, published an insightful analysis of where the votes for mayor are likely to come from in the upcoming primary election for Buffalo mayor.
Total turnout will likely be in the range of 30,000 – the average of previous elections. Dividing up the vote five ways may mean that the winning candidate will need 12,000 to 15,000 votes …
A solid base of support, buttressed by the financial resources available to get their messages across to the largest number of potential voters, moves both [Chris] Scanlon and [Sean] Ryan to the forefront of the election. Both will need more than their bases, no matter how strong the base is, to win.
Ryan can count on support from the Delaware Council District, and it’s worth noting that his Senate district includes six of the city’s nine Council districts. Scanlon’s base is in South Buffalo, which tends to turn out in greater numbers when one of its own is running for mayor.
The presence of three Black candidates on the ballot makes it hard for one of them to prevail, between vote splitting and their difficulty in raising funds and building a political organization.
Buy your tickets now for our July 31 benefit concert
Congressman Tim Kennedy joined 74 other Democrats in voting in favor of a Republican resolution last week that expressed gratitude to ICE and encouraged local authorities to cooperate with the agency.
House Republicans, including Nick Langworthy, voted to claw back funding earmarked for public broadcasting. If adopted by the Senate, that’s bound to hurt our local NPR and PBS stations.
Anderson Cooper and Scott Pelley of 60 Minutes, spoke about the importance of journalism in a democratic society in an interview on CNN following the broadcast of the Broadway production of Good Night, and Good Luck a week ago Saturday. Pelley said something profound:
“You cannot have democracy without journalism.”
The Marshall Project reports that heavy-handed responses to protests and other civil unrest is usually counterproductive.
A large body of research, spanning more than 50 years, shows that heavy-handed policing and militarized responses to civil unrest tend to make protests more volatile — not less.
Margaret Sullivan says the media is underplaying the growing resistance to the Trump regime. Most interesting in her column was this:
A study from a Harvard University political scientist presents a statistic worth remembering: that, around the world, once 3.5% of the population became engaged in sustained and non-violent campaigns of resistance, change has always happened …
Non-violent protests, she found, are much more effective – and bring about more lasting change – than armed conflict.
Trump outrages of the week include:
- There’s the dispatching of the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles, a move deemed illegal by a federal judge.
- The acknowledgment by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that the administration has plans on file for the armed takeover of Greenland and the Panama Canal.
- Security officers manhandled and handcuffed U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla during a press conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The Atlantic says it’s part of a pattern of intimidation.
Donate to support our nonprofit newsroomBig tech, including Amazon, helped to underwrite Trump’s birthday parade staged Saturday in Washington, D.C.
A book review: The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City, by Ken Baker. A very readable history, warts and all, of both New York City and baseball from its beginnings through the end of World War II. I didn’t know that New York City was so thoroughly corrupt until Fiorello La Guardia was elected mayor in the 1930s, or that the combative Giants manager John McGraw lost almost every fight he got involved in. A great read.
We lost two musical icons of the ‘60s last week, Brian Wilson and Sly Stone. The Associated Press offers this appreciation, with regrets. I’ll add my favorite Beach Boys tune, an under-appreciated ditty. And here’s a shortie from Sly.
