BUFFALO, N.Y. — We are now hearing from the campaign of Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown on the possibility of him running for re-election in November, as a write-in candidate.
His campaign says the mayor is seriously considering the idea.
This comes as leaders in the mayor’s own party are lining up, saying they would not support his write-in candidacy, but an outspoken local business leader is forging ahead.
This is the statement the Brown campaign released Friday:
Hundreds of people have contacted the Mayor to ask him to run as a write-in candidate in November, including Carl Paladino. An equal number of people have offered to financially contribute to such an effort. The Mayor has thanked all of the people who have contacted him for their outreach and support, and their belief that the City of Buffalo needs strong, experienced and consistent leadership in the Mayor's office. Currently, Mayor Brown is weighing this outpouring of support from across the City and region, and taking this suggestion under serious consideration."
On Thursday, 2 On Your Side tried to speak to Mayor Brown outside Sahlen Field, after he threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Blue Jays played the Baltimore Orioles, but the mayor didn't speak to us, and he was picked up in his government vehicle and driven away.
Top Democratic leaders have already shut the door on a possible write-in campaign from the mayor.
Jeremy Zellner, the chairman of the Erie County Democratic Committee says the party is fully behind India Walton, who beat the mayor in Tuesday's primary.
Plus, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and Congressman Brian Higgins say they don't support a write-in campaign from the mayor either.
And there's also State Senator Sean Ryan.
"He ran no campaign. You're not going to run a campaign in a primary, but you're going to wake up and run a write-in campaign? Game's over, move on," Ryan said.
But local business leader Carl Paladino is plowing ahead. He says he's prepared to help fund the mayor's write-in candidacy.
"That's pretty much the way it's going to happen," Paladino said. "The people I've spoken to are very much in favor of Byron Brown running again as a write-in, and they feel Byron Brown has been a very good mayor."
But some want Brown to wind down his governing initiatives.
"We'd like the mayor to work on a logical and a rational transition, stop listening to Carl Paladino. Get over it, guys, you were sleeping, and you lost," Ryan said.
"He should prepare to finish out what he's been elected to do, but I'll also ask him to slow down on some other things. There's going to be demolition permits issued, there's going to be subsidies given away, what we don't want is a rush on City Hall to give away the store before January 1."
Paladino says he's not sure how much money would be raised to potentially help the mayor.
In our interview with Paladino, he was also insulting to Walton, saying, "This woman is a dizzy idiot. She's going nowhere, and you can quote me on that. She has nothing to bring to the table," and that, "on the downside, she's got some really, really bad history that would want to dissuade people which will come out shortly."
Paladino offered no information on any "bad history" he was referring to.
In response to a potential write-in campaign by Brown, Seamus Gallivan, spokesperson for the India Walton campaign, released the following statement:
"Buffalonians went to the polls on Tuesday and elected India Walton as our next mayor. Our campaign is grateful for the outpouring of support we’ve received, from local leaders like Congressman Brian Higgins, Senator Sean Ryan, Assemblyman Jon Rivera, and Erie County Democratic Committee Chair Jeremy Zellner, to national figures like Senator Bernie Sanders, and we are committed to working with anyone else willing to work with us in service to the best interest of our beloved community," the statement read.
"While Byron Brown has every right to pursue a write-in campaign backed by far-right Trump supporters like Carl Paladino, we urge him to work in the spirit of our City of Good Neighbors as we transition to a Walton Administration."