BUFFALO, N.Y. — In his uphill battle to win re-election as a write-in candidate, Mayor Byron Brown had hired a political consulting firm to help him in his race against India Walton.
Senior aide to the mayor Michael DeGeorge confirmed to 2 On Your Side Tuesday that a consulting firm had been brought onboard, but declined to name the consultant.
Brown had first mentioned bringing in an outside consulting firm in a one-on-one interview with 2 On Your Side earlier this month.
During that interview, Mayor Brown said, “We were interviewing major campaign consultants that have done very difficult races in different part of the country and have been successful. The good news for me and folks who support me is that all of the consultants that we talked to wanted to be a part of this race.”
Brown then said he would make a decision on which political consulting firm “very shortly."
The mayor has yet to publicly explain how his campaign failed to take Walton and her campaign seriously in advance of the Democratic mayoral primary. In a low voter turnout contest, Walton bested Brown 11,718 to 10,669.
In the November general election, Walton will have the advantage of being the only candidate whose name is actually on the ballot.
The Brown will campaign is relying on voters taking the extra steps to write the Mayor’s name in.
