Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown declared victory Tuesday night as he easily defeated his socialist opponent India Walton.
Walton defeated the incumbent mayor in the Democratic primary, forcing Brown to mount a rare write-in campaign in order to win his fifth term.
Despite the challenge of running as a write-in candidate, Byron Brown won in a landslide with 59 percent of the votes over Walton’s 41 percent.
But Walton refused to concede.
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“I knew that this was going to be an uphill battle since the beginning,” Walton said Tuesday night. “I’m proud of our staff and our team and every vote needs to be counted. Now with Walton against ‘write-in,’ whoever that is … who ‘write-in’ is remains to be seen.”
“This is definitely not a concession speech,” she explained later. “But what I can guarantee you is that I will continue to fight for everyday Buffalonians who are struggling to make ends meet and live a quality life, and I am going to continue to work with sitting electeds and cross-sector coalitions to build a safe and healthy Buffalo that we all need and deserve.”
Walton was endorsed by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Ocasio-Cortez came to Buffalo to campaign for Walton last month and urged Buffalonians to “elect one of the most badass mayors in the United States.”
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