On Sunday, President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement. In the hours after the announcement, Western New York’s Democrats praised the president, and the region’s congressional Republicans called on him to resign as president.
Western New York’s delegates to next month’s Democratic National Convention (DNC), all of whom were released from their obligation to vote for Biden as the party’s nominee, largely stayed either silent or voiced no opinions about who the next Democratic nominee should be or how they should be chosen.
Buffalo Common Councilmember Zeneta Everhart announced that she would back Harris, becoming of the first DNC delegates from Western New York to endorse one of Biden’s potential successors.
“If you want something done right, give it to a Woman!” Everhart said in an X post that also praised Biden for “putting people over politics.”
Buffalo Common Councilmember Mitch Nowakowski, who is slated to attend the DNC as a delegate, simply said in a post to X that he was “ready [to] put my support behind our Democratic Party’s next candidate for President to defeat Donald Trump in November.” He also thanked Biden for “choosing his country and what is best for our party over ego.”
Mike Reed, a spokesperson for the Common Council, added that Nowakowski was “looking forward to the open convention and hearing the pitches from the possible candidates.”
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, also a delegate, praised Biden’s decision to stop aside, but offered no vision for what should come next.
“Today, he chose our republic’s future over his own ambitions, a selfless act that will be remembered far in the future,” Poloncarz said in a statement on X. “Thank you, Mr. President.”
A Poloncarz spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WBFO about whether Poloncarz supported a particular candidate or had any opinions about the process for choosing a new nominee.
Erie County Democratic Committee Chair Jeremy Zellner also didn’t endorse a particular candidate or method of selecting the nominee. In a statement on X, he praised Biden as “the most successful and effective president in my lifetime” and said he was “looking forward to leading our WNY Democratic delegation at the convention in Chicago, where we will unite behind the best candidate in order to prevent the reelection of the worst president of my lifetime, Donald Trump.”
The remaining delegates from New York’s 26th Congressional District — which include Erie County Legislature Chairwoman and State Senate candidate April Baskin; Buffalo Common Councilmember Leah Halton-Pope; former Buffalo Common Councilmember Bonnie Kane-Lockwood; Howard Johnson, who resigned as an Erie County legislator earlier this month; and Melissa Bochenski, a deputy chief of staff to Gov. Kathy Hochul — all appear to have made no public statements about Biden’s decision as of early Sunday evening.
A spokesperson for Baskin did not immediately respond to requests for comment from WBFO. Reed said that Halton-Pope was not available on Sunday.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include comment from Zeneta Everhart.