BUFFALO, N.Y. — The news that Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown is a finalist for the top job at Western Regional Off-Track Betting has led many to wonder: if Brown leaves early, who would be the next mayor of Buffalo?
The first thing to know is that a key date in the process has already passed. If Brown would have for any reason resigned before that date, a special election for mayor would have been called for this November.
Now that we've passed that date, if the mayor resigns before the end of his fifth term — he has one year remaining — the city charter states that the council president, Christopher Scanlon, becomes acting mayor.
That would seem to give Scanlon an advantage to keep the job when it comes up for grabs for a full term in November 2025. Scanlon would have all the advantages of incumbency as well as a highly motivated voting block of police officers, firefighters and other city employees in his home turf of South Buffalo.
Scanlon released this statement:
“As Buffalo Common Council President, I am fully aware that the City Charter mandates that I assume all of the responsibilities and the role of acting mayor should a vacancy occur in the office due to the mayor’s ‘resignation, removal, death or permanent inability to discharge the powers and duties of the office’.
I have spoken with Mayor Brown, who has informed me that he will consider the offer he received to be the next President of Western Region Off Track Betting. If he chooses to accept, I am prepared to lead and serve the residents of the City of Buffalo as their Mayor.”
But there's another school of thought that says Scanlon may not want that type of incumbency with the city's fiscal cliff approaching and cuts in city services or layoffs a possibility after Brown steps away.
That could open the door for someone like State Senator Sean Ryan — a West Side Democrat who is said to be interested in running for mayor, and who could not be tied politically to the city's fiscal problems.
While Scanlon and Ryan are two candidates who are often mentioned as mayoral hopefuls, that would create a scenario in which two white men would be running to succeed the first Black mayor of Buffalo.
Especially at a time when diversity is more of a factor than ever in the Democratic Party — Vice President Kamala Harris is the first Black woman to be nominated for president by a major party — that may not be palatable to some voters.
Political insiders say first-term Common Council members Zeneta Everhart and Leah Halton-Pope could also make a push to become the first Black woman to take the reins of the city.
Erie County Democratic Committee Chairman Jeremy Zellner said his party needs to get through this election cycle in November before looking for the next mayor of Buffalo.
But Zellner said he's already heard from potential candidates because no matter what happens, this will be the first time in two decades that the top political job in the region could be up for grabs.