With the preliminaries of the primary election out of the way, the Erie County District Attorney race will be between Democrat John Flynn and Republican Joe Treanor.
In an oddity of primary politics, Treanor beat Flynn in the Conservative primary. In all, Treanor will be on four lines on the November ballot.
Still, Flynn's victory in the Democratic primary may be most significant in a county where Democrats enjoy a large edge in voter registration. Flynn beat Acting District Attorney Michael Flaherty and former assistant District Attorney Mark Sacha for the nomination.
This means the two candidates are military lawyers. Treanor retired after 28 years of active duty and Flynn is a Navy reservist.
"Honor, courage and commitment. I lived my adult life by those core values," Flynn said.
"I promise each and every one of you and the residents of Erie County I will bring those core values into the DA's office."
Flynn is a former assistant District Attorney, former town justice, former acting Buffalo city judge and former Tonawanda town councilman and is now in private practice and town attorney.
Treanor says in his Air Force service he essentially ran a District Attorney's office, offering lessons in how to manage the county office.
"I have full faith and confidence in my team and the folks, terrific folks that are assembled to help me. So, I don't have any concerns about that," Treanor said when asked if he could beat the Democratic Party's edge in registration.
"When you have the backing of a major party like the Republican Party and then four additional lines, I don't think there is going to be too much difficulty getting one's name out there."
Both Republican County Chairman Nick Langworthy and Democratic County Chairman Jeremy Zellner say their candidates will benefit from the presidential race on the top of the ballot.
