Incumbent Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown called the upcoming mayoral election against endorsed Democratic nominee India Walton and write-in candidate Ben Carlisle as the most critical mayoral election in our lifetime.
Brown may have been speaking directly to those St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute students living in the city who are on the cusp of the age to vote.
The student panel peppered the candidates with questions ranging from affordable housing and the public school system to administrative transparency and a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills.
St. Joe’s Senior and Equity and Justice Club President Aaron Hall was part of the panel and said for him the debate was a great introduction to an important part of the political process.
“As a future voter I was very interested to watch,” he said. “I learned a lot about how the debate process goes again I think they all gave great answers I'm excited to vote next year.”
The question of eliminating food insecurity in Buffalo’s underserved neighborhoods stood out for Hall.
“To me personally the most important question was the food insecurity and food desert question,” he said. “I liked all the answers they gave because they gave very good solutions, things that I actually see possibly happening soon so that was the most important question to me and I'm glad all three candidates gave great answers.”
Another panelist, Kellen O’Connor echoed Hall’s sentiments:
“I feel like food insecurity is a really important issue nationwide and especially in the city so hearing a question from the mayor's about it really was important,” he said.
O’Connor admitted the prep work that went into formulating questions for the debate was stressful but was happy how the debate went off.
While not a city resident nor old enough to vote, O’Connor had made up his mind on his candidate of choice prior to the debate.
