Buffalo mayor considers write-in campaign after primary loss

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BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown is considering running for re-election as a write-in candidate after losing a three-way primary to socialist India Walton, Brown’s campaign said Friday.

The four-term incumbent has been contacted by “hundreds of people” asking him to run in November and offering financial support, a statement emailed to reporters said.

“Currently, Mayor Brown is weighing this outpouring of support from across the city and region and taking this suggestion under serious consideration,” it said.

Brown finished second in Tuesday’s Democratic primary in a result that some have attributed to low voter turn-out and Brown’s approach to the race, which involved largely ignoring his challengers and refusing to debate.

He has yet to concede, which would all but ensure Walton’s victory in November. There is no Republican candidate.

Walton on Friday said her win demonstrates that residents of New York’s second-largest city are ready for progressive change. Backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, the Working Families Party and the progressive People’s Action, she campaigned on a platform of affordable housing, health care and criminal justice reform.

“We must work together to do what is best for our city. And also we are saying no more to the status quo,” she said.

Buffalo developer Carl Paladino, the Republican candidate for governor in 2010, is among those urging Brown to run a write-in campaign, Brown’s campaign said.

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