ECDC hosts final mayoral convention before endorsement

Watch the interviews with Chris Scanlon and Garnell Whitfield in the video player above, and interviews with Sean Ryan and Rasheed Wyatt in the video players below.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Erie County Democratic Committee (ECDC) hosted its final mayoral convention on Tuesday night with the four candidates chosen by committee members for its upcoming endorsement.

The two previous conventions took place in December and January, narrowing the final four down to Acting Buffalo Mayor Chris Scanlon, State Senator Sean Ryan, Buffalo Common Council Member Rasheed Wyatt and former Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell Whitfield.

Those who were not chosen to be in the running for the committee’s endorsement can still run for mayor, they just won’t be the endorsed candidate.

Tuesday night’s event was only open to Democratic committee members living in Buffalo. The ECDC’s executive committee is set to endorse a candidate for Buffalo mayor on Feb. 22.

The candidates honed in on their platforms, with some saying they would continue to run regardless if they receive the party’s endorsement or not.

State Senator Sean Ryan is continuing to run on his platform of “Buffalo deserves better” and spoke about how he would handle the city’s budget shortfall.

“The city of Buffalo doesn’t know how deep of debt they’re in right now, so I’d like to have the comptroller come in to take a look at the city’s books to get a real true look at how many problems they’re in,” he said. “In order to get people to help you out, you need to fess up to what your problems are and come up with a plan.”

Whitfield, who said he would run regardless of getting the endorsement, listed transparency, competency and inclusivity as core aspects of his platform.

He also said as mayor, he would bring his management skills to the table.

“I’ve managed departments, people, assets — regionally, not just locally — none of them [the other candidates] have that,” Whitfield said. “I know a lot about the inner workings of the police and fire departments — our biggest cost centers — and other things, so I believe that that differentiates me from them.”

Buffalo mayoral race: Democratic Committee endorsement narrowed to four candidates

Scanlon also said he would continue running no matter what choice the committee makes this weekend. He said Buffalo isn’t the only place facing a financial gap, saying COVID has “ravaged” cities. Reducing spending and “getting creative with revenues” are ways Scanlon said he plans to close the gap.

“As a citizen, someone who chose to live here, raise their family here, have three small children I’m raising here, the future of the city of Buffalo is extremely important to me,” he said.

Wyatt mentioned having residents’ concerns in mind as his main platform issue. He spoke about putting legislation together for creating a snow removal plan and the issue of potholes in the city needing to be fixed.

He also listed evaluating city services, having accountability for departments and “downsizing and rightsizing” the government as a way of moving forward. Wyatt will run regardless of the party’s endorsement decision.

“I have not been a proponent of the former administration and I’m not a proponent of the current administration,” Wyatt said. “I think that where we’re going right now is still not going in the right direction.”

Michael Gainer, who’s a member of the Greater Jefferson Avenue Business Association and helped found Buffalo ReUse, was not chosen as a finalist for the ECDC’s endorsement, but attended Tuesday’s convention and said he plans to continue his campaign.

Gainer criticized the ECDC for endorsing a candidate before the primary election.

“I believe that we should leave the endorsement process to the voters. That’s why the Democratic party has a primary,” he said. “We have a primary because we want voters to show up and endorse a candidate with their vote for who is going to be on the ballot in November — that’s what democracy looks like.”

The endorsed candidate needs to win the primary election in June to receive the official nomination from the Democratic party in the general election, which is scheduled for Nov. 4.

To read about all of the candidates running for Buffalo mayor, click here.

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Katie Skoog joined the News 4 team in April 2024. She is a graduate from the University at Buffalo. You can view more of her work here.

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