India Walton (a proud democratic socialist) beat incumbent Byron Brown, the Democratic candidate to be the next mayor of Buffalo. Walton lost to her rival in the race for mayor of Buffalo. Walton won by a narrow margin.
Reports say Brown’s “campaign wasn’t crafty” The New York TimesThe mayor spent $100,000 on ink stamps with his name, to enable voters to write their names onto ballots. It is permitted by law in the state. Brown, who is running for his fifth term as Buffalo mayor after a strong emphasis on coalition building and support from conservatives and more moderate voters, will now be the recipient of this fifth term. He humbly called his write-in victory “one the greatest comeback stories of our history” on Tuesday night.
Jacob Neiheisel from the University of Buffalo, political science professor tells us that Walton has “she exceeded all my expectations in terms of general,” There is a reason. Although he says that her ceiling was between 30-35%, she actually exceeded it,” he is referring to the fact that it is hard to know if that percentage includes true believers and those just wanting to see a different outcome.
After news reported that Walton’s car was impounded for failing to pay parking tickets or an expired inspection, her campaign suffered some difficulties. Although Walton used this to her advantage by reminding voters of the hardships that poor people face all the time in the beginning, Walton later fell foul of the blame game when she tried to blame her opponent for the impounding problems.
“Brown successfully turned the election debate to the petty personal mistakes of Walton, a woman who became a working mother as a teen, before becoming a nurse: she was charged with $295 worth of food stamp fraud in 2003; she owed $749 in back taxes in 2004; she was stopped for driving with a suspended license; she visited her cousin before he went to jail; she failed to show up for a court summons sent to the wrong address; she wrote a rude Facebook post; and her car was towed just last month over unpaid parking tickets,” writes Branko Marcetic at JacobinNoting, however that Walton was not from a wealthy background.
Neiheisel believes that Brown was wrong to underestimate Walton’s team at first. He says that Brown should have known this was coming, noting that Federal Election Commission filings revealed that Walton had substantial downstate support. This included broadcasting ads in the correct markets and having a strong media team. But, “I still don’t think that I’ve ever seen anybody.” [within Buffalo politics]There hasn’t been anyone who was quite so willing to add the label socialist to themselves [as Walton]Neiheisel says that younger voters tend to be more open about expressing their socialist and democratic beliefs.
Walton’s platform contained boilerplate socialist pledges, particularly in the area of housing policy. While implementing the Tenant Opportunities to Purchase Act (TOPA), she wanted to offer financial assistance to small landlords, in return for tenant rent forgiveness. The Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) provides financing for tenants who wish to make that purchase. A tenant can also assign their rights to purchase the property to an agency local for non-profit housing.
Walton claims that TOPA “is an effective anti-displacement, wealth generation tool.” However, her website fails to mention that Democratic Socialists of America’s (DSA) attempts to alter the provenance of residential stock frequently create problems. DSA-types (including Walton), support tenants’ rights. However, landlords are forced to pay more for doing business. While socialists are often unable to stop developers from building more housing stock, they believe that this will increase rents. However, it is important to remember that higher rent inflation correlates with lower vacancy rates.
Walton’s loss aside, DSA-endorsed candidates performed alarmingly well. Kendra Hicks won her bidQuinton Zondervan is the incumbent for Boston’s seat on its city council. wonHe ran for a seat in the Cambridge City Council’s reelection contest. J.T. Scott was reelected as a member of the Somerville city council, Massachusetts.
Jivan Sbrinho-Wheeler was one of the other DSA start-ups. failedIn his candidacy for reelection as Cambridge’s mayor. Becca Miller (Eve Seitchik) and Tessa Bridge (Tessa Bridge) failedTo garner sufficient votes to elect them to Somerville’s City Council seats. The planned socialist takeover in Somerville Massachusetts didn’t work out. Boston DSA-backed incumbents were able to get the votes much more easily than the new entrants.
“Our goal is … to take over Somerville and to start implementing a Green New Deal for Somerville, free transit, defunding the police, creating affordable housing, bringing back rent control,” Boston DSA spokesperson Seth Gordon told Politico back in March, which noted that such “endorsements are a signal that the Boston Democratic Socialists of America is flexing some new political power, and eyeing a move toward the mainstream.”
You can also find it elsewhere in the country Rajesh BarnabasThe race to be a Rochester city council member was lost. Minneapolis saw three DSA-nominated candidates win seats. city council. Richie Floyd is also available in Florida. wonYou can be a member of St. Petersburg’s City Council.
2) DSA natl win rate is decent bc partly incumbents but also due to strategic campaigns across jurisdictions within & btw chapters such as in the greater Boston area. Expanding elected socialist representation is possible by staying local and using resources from multiple races.
— David S. Duhalde (@TheDuhalde) November 3, 2021
DSA was able to endorse 32 candidates. While many high-profile contestants like India Walton were rejected, DSA seems to have succeeded in its strategy of reaching out to local races. reportingThe success rate is 69 per cent