On Wednesday, Erie County Democratic Committee Chairman Jeremy Zellner was nominated by the party as their candidate in next month's special election for the State Senate 61st District seat.
However, not every Democrat was happy about this.
To a crowd of around 100 people, Jeremy Zellner accepted the party’s nomination to represent them on the ticket for Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan’s now vacant seat in the State Senate. The special election has been called for February 3, less than a month away.
On the other hand, a group of Democrats were protesting outside, calling for the party to make a very different decision.
“I am the mother of the household," said activist India Walton, giving an analogy at the protest outside Erie County Democratic Committee Headquarters before the meeting.
“They're probably going to agree at the end of the day with whatever I offer, right? And I think that the extreme in this case is that they're folks whose jobs depend on Jeremy Zellner," Walton said.
Critics of Zellner, who up until early this year was the Erie County Board of Elections Democratic Commissioner, claim his nomination is “undemocratic” and voice concerns of conflict of interest.
Zellner had announced that he planned to run and leave his commissioner post at the same time. He then posted a farewell video as commissioner on Friday and announced his candidacy Monday.
“I wanted to make sure that the public knew my intentions the day after the election," Zellner said, defending his decisions.
"That's why I got out to let them know I'm going to be leaving the Board of Elections as soon as I certify the election, and make sure we have things in place with the budget, and make sure we have things in place with the staff," Zellner said.
"I thought it was critical that I got out immediately to let the public know that I resigned my position at the board the minute the governor called the special election so there would be no conflict," he added.
Zellner will face Republican businessman Dan Gagliardo in the special election. The winner will complete the term Ryan did not finish due to his election as Buffalo mayor. Later this year, there will be an election for the next full term.
Current State Assemblymember Jon Rivera will challenge Zellner in the June primary.
“I would say that I don't think, you know, my opponent is capable of doing this fairly," Rivera told BTPM NPR. "I think he's had multiple opportunities to be more open and more transparent, more engaging, and he's chose not to.”
Rivera is also critical of Zellner.
“I mean, it just looks bad, you know, to resign from the Board of Elections 30 days before your own election," Rivera said. "Doesn't look good to be in charge of the process by which a person is chosen and for that person be you.”
Zellner says that in addition to running for Senate, he doesn’t plan to step down from his role as Erie County Democratic Committee Chairman, and in fact plans to run again for chair.
“I have strong support from Governor Kathy Hochul for re-election and I plan on seeking re-election in October," Zellner said.
Early voting for the Senate special election begins January 24.
