"I had a lot of encouragement to do it. My family was on board. I had wanted to run for public office my whole life."
That's some of what Jeremy Zellner said when asked the question why he was running for the New York State Senate's 61st District. In recent years, he has held two powerful political positions in Erie County. In 2012, he was elected chairman of the Erie County Democratic Committee, and in 2017 was named the county's Democratic Election Commissioner.
To run for office, he gave up the latter position.
“This was a really difficult decision to leave the board of elections, you know, to take a pretty large pay cut and leave the safety of the Board of Elections to seek public office,” he said during an interview in the studios of Buffalo Toronto Public Media January 23.
Zellner stated he had been interested in running for state office years ago, and while the opportunity was there upon the retirement of longtime Assemblyman Robin Schimminger of Kenmore, his own children were young and he felt that for family reasons, the time wasn't right.
Now is his time to try convincing voters that he's the right candidate to replace Sean Ryan, who vacated the State Senate 61st District seat upon his election as Buffalo's new mayor. Ryan is one of many local Democratic elected leaders with whom Zellner believes he can maintain good working relationships.
"I know that the city is a smaller piece of this district, but it is arguably the most important piece of our community. It’s the City of Buffalo," Zellner said. "The City of Buffalo is our jewel, and we need to make sure that it succeeds, and we need to make sure that our mayor has the tools that he needs from the state of New York to make his agenda happen.”
Those tools, of course, include cash. Lots of it, but both the City of Buffalo and New York State are facing significant budget deficits in the coming year. The state's deficit has previously been projected at more than $10 billion.
Zellner, though, believes Western New York is in better position to receive critical funding if the 61st District remains filled by a Democrat.
"We've seen it time and time again. Every election matters. We had an election in Erie County this past year, decided by literally a handful of votes," he said. "It is not a good idea to support a Republican in the Senate seat because the Republican minority can't deliver a pizza. They are in the minority, and the State Senate Democrats are the people who are able to get the funding that our community needs.”
Among the issues discussed were local government relationships with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), affordability, and countering President Donald Trump's agenda, which Zellner says has put New York State under attack.
"We've had attacks on our health care. We've had attacks on our food subsidies that help those who need them the most," he said. "I don't think Dan Gagliardo, who's literally sending out attack mailers about me, who's literally working with the Republican party bosses to get elected, I don't think he has the stomach to go to Albany and stand up to Trump.”
Gagliardo, who also visited BTPM to record an interview scheduled for release Thursday, January 30, is a former Democrat who switched to become a Republican candidate. His campaign website makes no reference to party affiliation nor does it hint of any alignment with Trump. Zellner isn't buying it, and suggests his opponent is hiding it because it's "really turned people off."
In regards to affordability, Zellner likes Governor Kathy Hochul's desire to introduce universal child care for children under the age of five. It begins with pilot programs in Monroe, Broome and Duchess counties, but Zellner hopes he may help expand it statewide, when the time is right.
"It's going to really move the needle for a lot of families who need that help," he said. "We are not seeing it rolled out upstate yet. In a couple of places, there are pilot projects here in Erie County, we are just not ready for it yet. I think we need a program up here that's fully funded by the state. And I think we're going to see that. I plan on going to Albany to fight for that.”
Early voting for the special election continues through Sunday, February 1. The special election day is Tuesday, February 3.
