BUFFALO, N.Y. — Despite President Joe Biden’s stunning decision to end his reelection bid Sunday, creating historic uncertainty, Erie County Democrats and Republicans are pulling confidence from the same place.
2 On Your Side spoke with the chairmen of both parties Sunday following President Biden’s announcement, both of whom were quick to call attention to former President Donald Trump as the reason for their faith in their respective parties.
Erie County Democratic Committee chairman Jeremy Zellner said he believes President Biden’s decision to drop out was the right one and that he has complete confidence that Vice President Kamala Harris will defeat former President Trump come November.
“Democrats are unified right now on one thing: defeating Donald Trump,” he said. “I've received so much energy through texts and phone calls in the last two hours from people that are excited one way or another to get in and elect Democrats in the fall.”
The Democratic chairman even pushed aside the concerns of the vice president entering the race just weeks before the Democratic National Convention, but he held back his official endorsement of her until hours after speaking with 2 On Your Side and until Gov. Kathy Hochul and state Democratic chair Jay Jacobs gave theirs.
“My confidence in our ticket is that Donald Trump is the worst candidate that's ever run for president,” Zellner said.
But Erie County Republican chairman Michael Kracker said former President Trump is why he is more confident now that his party will come away victorious in November, arguing that the American people actually chose him as a candidate.
“There was a time for the Democrats to campaign for the position,” Kracker said. “The Democrats want to tell us that Republicans are the enemy of democracy, and then they go and undo or ignore or throw out 14.6 million primary votes so that they can hand-select their new candidate.”
Chairman Zellner said despite this seismic shift from the very top of the party, he still remains confident in his party’s chances in the local races come November.