Sep 18
2025
Zellner, Rivera jockey for state Senate seat
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Assembly Member Jonathan Rivera and Erie County Democratic Committee Chair Jeremy Zellner are longtime allies. In recent months they’ve also become rivals.
Both are positioning themselves to succeed Sean Ryan in the 61st district state Senate seat in the likely event that Ryan is elected mayor of Buffalo in November. Neither has publicly declared their candidacy, but both are canvassing party leaders, committee members and other Democratic stalwarts for pledges of support.
Rivera recently received letters of endorsement from a handful of building trades unions. As if in reply, Town of Amherst Democratic Chair Chuck Eaton used a meeting of the town’s Democratic committee members last week to encourage — but not endorse — Zellner’s bid for the seat.
Several dozen committee members attended, according to a participant. Those in attendance were shown a map of the 61st district, which encompasses the northwest of Buffalo and all of Grand Island, the Tonawandas, Kenmore, Amherst and Williamsville. The map was marked with the percentage of registered voters represented by each municipality in the district.
Jeremy Zellner (left, courtesy of WKBW) and Jon Rivera (right, photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel)
According to the map, the City of Buffalo, where Rivera and Ryan both live, represents just 17 percent of voters in the district. Zellner lives in the City of Tonawanda, which — combined with the Town of Tonawanda and the Village of Kenmore — weighs in at 31 percent.
The message was clear: The 61st district should be represented by a suburbanite.
In a post-meeting email to committee members, Eaton noted that “with Amherst comprising more than 40% of the registered voters — and with more than 80% of the voters in the district residing north of the city of Buffalo — our town and localities outside the city have important roles to play” in deciding who will fill the seat next year.
According to real estate and voter registration records, Eaton himself recently moved from Amherst to Grand Island, which has 9 percent of the district’s voters.
Eaton wrote that “more than a dozen people at the meeting … expressed support for County Chairman Zellner to join the race.” Those present voted in kind, though it was not unanimous, according to a participant.
“I stress this was not a formal endorsement,” Eaton wrote (emphasis his).
It couldn’t be a formal endorsement; Zellner is not yet a formal candidate. His paying gig is county election commissioner, which paid $150,992 last year. State law requires election commissioners to resign before accepting a nomination or designation for elective office.
Zellner’s desire to succeed Ryan has not been a secret. Investigative Post first reported the possibility more than a year ago. University District Council Member Rasheed Wyatt, a candidate in the June Democratic primary for mayor, said he suspected Zellner’s ambition to become a state legislator was “the end game” in the county party’s decision to back Ryan for mayor. Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon in February suggested Ryan’s endorsement seemed to him “pretty much predetermined.”
Zellner rejected those claims, saying Ryan’s endorsement was determined by members of the party’s city committee after a series of candidate forums.
Donate to support our nonprofit newsroomIf Ryan becomes mayor in January, the governor will call a special election to fill the Senate seat — most likely in March. There will be no primary; party leaders, not rank-and-file voters, will designate candidates to appear on the ballot. Whoever wins the special election will serve the remainder of Ryan’s term, which runs through the end of 2026, and must run again that fall to retain the seat.
Zellner’s influence over the county’s Democratic committee would appear to give him a leg up in winning the designation for the special election. Last week’s meeting of Amherst Democrats is an example of how that influence works.
Eaton was longtime chief of staff to Congressman Brian Higgins, in whose office Rivera worked for a spell, too. Before Higgins announced his plan to retire, Eaton moved to a $175,583 per year job as executive director of the Erie County Water Authority — a plum position at an agency notorious for patronage controlled by party chairs like Zellner.
Rivera — the son of long-time Buffalo Common Council Member David Rivera — is pretty good at inside baseball, too.
When Ryan jumped from the Assembly to the Senate in 2020, Rivera succeeded him. He’s worked on lots of successful campaigns, including Ryan’s mayoral campaign this year, winning allies and favors along the way. He has developed powerful friends in Albany while serving in the Assembly.
And Zellner’s ambition to hold elective office has been thwarted before.
Five years ago, when Robin Schimminger retired from the Assembly after an astonishing 22 terms in office, Zellner wanted that seat. But the party committee on Zellner’s own home turf preferred Bill Conrad, who won the seat and since has been returned to office twice.
Conrad’s name is also frequently dropped as a potential successor to Ryan but shows no signs of pursuing the seat. Amherst Assembly Member Karen McMahon, another possible candidate, announced at least week’s meeting of town committee members that she wasn’t interested.
Right now, among Democrats, it’s Rivera vs. Zellner.
Democrats comprise 45.8 percent of registered voters in the district, according to state election board figures. Republicans represent 24.5 percent, and a similar number are unaffiliated with any political party.
