Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - As Primary Elections go, it was a highly localized day Tuesday and more than 75% of voters weren't eligible to take part, leading to lower turnout. That and spending on campaigns may have led to the outcomes on Tuesday, say political pundits.
In the races for Buffalo Common Council, Ken Kruly of Politics and Stuff tells WBEN the numbers are more surprising than anticipated, especially in two big primaries. "Leah Holton Pope won in the Ellicott district with almost 49% of the vote and with a field of a total of four candidates. In the Masten district, heavily competitive with India Walton and Zeneta Everhart, Everhart won by 32%," says Kruly.
Kruly says the big difference in the Masten race was spending, with Everhart substantially outraising Walton by more than 2 to 1. "Everhart also had the support of the Erie County Democratic committee, Mayor Brown and Senator Kennedy among others," adds Kruly.
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Erie County Democratic Chairman Jeremy Zellner tells WBEN he's pleased with the primary results in Buffalo. "The candidates that worked hard and their communities responded, it looks like our entire endorsed slate of candidates in the city of Buffalo won resoundingly," says Zellner.
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Zellner says he's not taking anything for granted with the county executive race in November. Mark Poloncarz did not have to face a primary after other candidates dropped out.
On the Republican side, the race for 10th district in the Erie County Legislature is a close call between Jim Malczewski and Lindsay Lorigo. Erie County GOP Chairman Michael Kracker says this primary is going to extra innings. "As it appears this race is too close to call on the Republican line. So we're going to probably have to wait until at least tomorrow, if not, over the next couple of days and weeks to get a final result," says Kracker.
Kracker says in a low turnout race like this spending matters, but he believes things are often hard to predict. There's been a battle between the Conservative and Republican parties over the seat. "The parties may have some significant differences. But generally speaking, I think the people who make up our our organizations are united in a common conservative core value," notes Kracker.
While absentee ballots will likely determin the outcome of the Republican primary, Lorigo won the Conservative primary over Malczewski Tuesday.
Kruly says things deteriorated when Republican lawmakers would not accept the appointment of Lindsay Lorigo to the seat. "Here was some talk of a truce, but there was a pretty serious war going on between the Republican Conservative parties and the Republicans now could wind up losing this," notes Kruly.