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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Political Revolution Comes to... Buffalo?
The stunning victory of socialist challenger India Walton over the citys four-term incumbent has ignited a revolution hereif she can keep it.
That may sound trite. Its not. Its probably not possible to understand how disruptive Waltons win has been unless youre from here. But Ill try.
Walton is a community organizer, former head of a community land trust, a registered nurse, a labor activist, and a single mother of four who earned her GED while pregnant with twins. This was her first race for political office.
York State Senate to the mayors office on the second floor of Buffalos beautiful art deco City Hall. The massive building went up in 1932 at the origin point of the citys original radial street plan when the citys power elite believedor professed to believethat Buffalos rapid growth over the previous 50 years would continue unabated, that this would be a city of a million people by 1950.
Thats not what happened. Disinvestment had in fact already begun in the 1920s, and, after an economic bump from World War II, the citys industrial economy continued to decline, finally cratering in the 1970s.
Buffalo has been a client of the state and federal governments ever since. State aid provides one-third of the citys revenue; federal money flows through the city bureaucracy to fund a network of anti-poverty nonprofits.
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/india-walton-buffalo-mayor/
crickets
(25,976 posts)Decoy of Fenris
(1,954 posts)Republicans and Democrats alike trying to come together to stop the legitimate election of a black woman. A power-base so obscenely corrupt that the incumbent mayor couldn't even be bothered to put his name on the ballot because he was so sure he'd win. 60 years of cross-party one-hand-washing-the-other to the exclusive benefit of the rich and powerful, leaving the poor and needy to rot.
Good on Walton. She's the best type of Democrat.
Autumn
(45,079 posts)liberal_mama
(1,495 posts)Voter turnout was low and most people assumed that Byron Brown would win a 5th term as Buffalo Mayor. Buffalo is a pretty big city and she doesn't have any political experience, so some people are concerned about that, including my mother (a very passionate democrat). I hope she does good. I was never crazy about Byron Brown myself.