Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon may have lost the Democratic Party primary by nearly 3,000 votes to State Sen. Sean Ryan, but he remains on the November ballot with his Good Neighbors Party independent line, as of early morning.
Ryan, who had the Democratic Party endorsement, now becomes the party’s official mayoral nominee. Ryan had 12,249 votes to Scanlon’s 9,278, according to unofficial Erie County Board of Elections results.
Scanlon, while he conceded the primary race to Ryan, said he is evaluating his options.
“We weren't successful tonight, but we'll deal with tomorrow, tomorrow,” Scanlon said.
If Scanlon stays in the November mayoral race, he will again be running in a crowded field with at least four other candidates: Ryan, who also has the Working Families line; Republican James Gardner; Michael Gainer who has the Restore Buffalo line and former Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell Whitfield Jr., whose New Buffalo Party line remains subject of a legal challenge.
Scanlon said he will review his options.
“The best part about this is, in the last eight months as mayor, I've told everyone the fact that the number of people I got to meet that I haven't known before, the organizations I didn't work with in the past and had the opportunity to do it now,” Scanlon said. “But as far as learning from the election itself, it’s a little too early. We’ll have to look at numbers tomorrow and things like that, we'll take a look at it.”
Many of the business and private sector leaders who were at Scanlon’s primary night party at the Barrel Factory in the Old First Ward say they hope the mayor stays in the race.
Among them is local architect Steve Carmina, founder of Carmina Wood Design.
“I think that he has proven over the last seven months as acting mayor that he can turn things around and he can put things in place that were necessary to turn this city around,” Carmina said. “I don't believe that the other candidates have shown that they can do that work.”
Candidates have until June 27 to withdraw from the November election, according to the Erie County Board of Elections.
