Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Next week Tuesday will see a special election held between Democrat Jeremy Zellner and Republican Dan Gagliardo for the 61st State Senate District seat in Albany that was vacated by Sean Ryan when he became Mayor of Buffalo.
With one week remaining before the Feb. 3 election, the race to represent communities like Amherst, Buffalo, Grand Island and Tonawanda is starting to heat up.
Zellner says this race for Albany has been a sprint since Gov. Hochul called for this special election a few weeks back.
"I think it was 30 days that the nominations took place, and then the campaign happened. I've focused a lot on trying to get the resources I needed quickly, and I'm really, really excited and honored that we were able to qualify for the match funding from within the district within 48 hours," said Zellner on Monday, as he was endorsed by Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz for the State Senate. "And I believe we've maxed out the match funding from the State Board of Elections, which means that hundreds-and-hundreds of donors from this district have supported my campaign in such a quick time. I'm really proud that we were able to do that so that we can get our message out there."
Zellner has spent the last few weeks since launching his campaign knocking on some doors and on the phones making calls to hundreds of constituents he would represent in Albany. He says there were a couple of talking points that were top of mind for residents.
"Affordability is at the top of their concerns, and what's happening with ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is at the top of their concerns," Zellner said. "We have a really rich, culturally diverse community in the 61st District, different Asian groups, and they're afraid. Actually some folks that I talked to this weekend did not want to talk on the phone. They said, 'I don't want to talk on the phone anymore.' That is terrifying. That's not what our country is all about."
Zellner strongly feels what has taken place over the last few weeks in Minnesota with ICE officials and the fatal shootings of Renee Good and, most recently, Alex Pretti has been a complete disaster.
"I think Secretary [Kristi] Noem needs to resign. I think Donald Trump needs to immediately rethink his strategy. He told us he was going to keep us safe, keep the border secure. Not raid schools, places of worship, restaurants and business, terrifying people and going after people who are here doing their own business. Paying taxes they're never going to recoup, paying into our Social Security and Medicare that they're never going to recoup. These are people who are trying to live their lives, not be terrorized," Zellner said.
One thing Zellner points to is the recent wave of Republicans now pushing back against ICE.
"You saw the Republican sheriff in Niagara County [Michael Filicetti] refusing to cooperate with ICE. I applaud our mayor in the City of Buffalo putting forth his executive order [Monday], and I plan on getting to Albany right away and supporting the legislation that is calling on the state police and local governments to not cooperate with ICE," Zellner expounded.
On top of the issues with ICE locally, Zellner feels there's a number of other concerns with the Republican party that are leaving many people scared.
"My goal is to get to Albany to fight, to put a safety net in place from the attacks that the federal government have on our state. They're cutting our Medicaid, they're cutting our health insurance, they're cutting our food subsidies to those that need it the most," he said.
When asked about his race against Gagliardo and claims of him being a career politician that doesn't have his feet on the ground in the best interests for Western New York, Zellner was certainly not afraid to push back.
"I'm 47-years-old, and I've been the chair of the [Democratic] party for 14 years. I've lived a long life before I got involved in this stuff," Zellner said. "Some of the things that I see the governor putting forward would have been game changers and life changers for me and my family when our kids were younger. To have free child care, we had to pay half of our paychecks for child care when my kids were younger. I've lived a life where we needed union support and union benefits for our health care growing up, where I've seen people struggle, where my friends and family have gone through a lot in this community.
"I think my opponent is completely out of touch. He's trying to say he's not a politician, but only one of us has run for two races in the last two months. One of us is attacking the other, and that's not me. He's using tens of thousands of dollars from party bosses, calling me a 'party boss'. It's really, really ironic that he's trying to paint himself as some middle of the road guy, when he refuses to denounce the extremism from Donald Trump, won't say a word about anything that is happening in this country that's turned it upside down. That's why he should be ineligible to be a candidate next week."
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As for Gagliardo, he feels this race for the 61st State Senate District has been a continuation of his campaign for Amherst Town Supervisor, which he lost to Deputy Supervisor Shawn Lavin this past November.
"We've been able to take that 10 months that I did with the supervisor race, and kind of do a culmination of that for the last 30 days. So we're in a very good position to be able to continue this," said Gagliardo in an interview with WBEN. "We made our match very quick. Within four days, we made the match for the dollars from the state, and we've been out there talking to people. We've been going door-to-door, we've been making a lot of calls. I've been out and about all over the community to try to bring in the Grand Island people, the Tonawanda people and as well as the Buffalo people. It's been going very well."
One thing Gagliardo felt he learned most from his campaign for Amherst Town Supervisor was the understanding of what people are looking for in an ideal candidate, and that this is not a party affiliation race.
"This is about someone, such as myself - a working man - trying to help working families, because I've been doing that my entire life," Gagliardo said. "When you're in my restaurant, we don't ask you what your party affiliation is. We just help you, we service you, and if something's wrong, we try to take care of you. That same standard is what I'm going to be taking to Albany with me.
"And I've learned that once you're out there talking to people, knocking on 12,000 doors and speaking to thousands of people, you recognize we are all very similar, and the divisiveness and the polarization that's out there now with these parties is only creating more havoc. We need to get to a neutral place, where we're all talking and trying to figure out what we need to do next."
What are some of the main talking point among constituents he has talked with over the last several weeks?
"Utilities, taxes, crime. Electrification, people just don't understand. Our costs are soaring, health insurance. We need to talk about all of these, and I believe that since we are in the minority, we need to have a louder voice," Gagliardo noted. "We need to engage the people of the 61st to go out there and be part of the conversation, and let people know in Albany how much we need things to occur. And also, the no tax on tips, making sure that that gets into the budget this year, as well as in '27."
As for the happenings in Minnesota and the divisive nature surrounding ICE activity there over the last several weeks, Gagliardo calls the shootings of Good and Pretti tragic, and that those incidents need to be investigated and people must be held accountable.
He also feels, though, the people cannot turn their back on law enforcement.
"99.9% of the people do their job, but if there's something that's wrong and it has to be addressed," Gagliardo said. "We need to allow the peaceful protests, we need to let that happen, but we need to let this simmer down. We need to get to the bottom of it, find out what happened in those two incidents so the people know that their voices are being heard."
Gagliardo also believes both Democrats and Republicans agree the criminal elements from the area needs to be removed, but that law enforcement people should be speaking to one another.
"We should not not be talking. That's when the problem occurs. The ICE agents need to be talking to our police officers, and everybody needs to be on the same page. And we need to be dignified and respectful," Gagliardo added. "We need to make sure that we're treating people that way. Nobody deserves to be treated unfairly or with abuse in any way whatsoever. And I believe that 99.9% of our law enforcement officials believe that. We have to cool this rhetoric and these bad feelings that everybody has about one another, and we need to work together."