By Robert J. McCarthy

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In this most unique of Buffalo mayoral elections, mailers from state Republicans have arrived at city homes over the past few days urging voters to write in Brown’s name on the ballot and lauding his “proven, common sense leadership.” They also note his support for police, protection for neighborhoods and that he is “fiscally responsible.”

Other mailers aim directly at his opponent, India B. Walton. The winner of the June Democratic primary, the mailers say, embraces a “radical agenda that will destroy Buffalo.” They picture her shouting into a bullhorn and claim Walton’s “destructive agenda will hurt Buffalo’s economy, raise taxes, increase rents and harm property values.”

By Tom Dinki

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Whoever Buffalo’s next mayor is — be it Byron Brown or India Walton — has to balance the wishes of older homeowners who want to age in place, with the market demands of young families looking for their first homes.

By Jerry Zremski

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Sure enough, the Walton agenda appears to be the culmination of a progressive nonprofit movement in Buffalo that took root in the 2000s and that grew exponentially in the mid-2010s thanks to more than $5 million in grants from a charity founded by liberal billionaire George Soros.

That gift created Open Buffalo, which runs a leadership program that counts Walton among its graduates. And it supercharged a number of other local nonprofits – the Partnership for the Public Good, PUSH Buffalo, Voice-Buffalo, the Coalition of Economic Justice – that have provided ideas and energy to the Walton campaign.

By Jonathan D. Epstein

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The two leading candidates for Buffalo’s mayor are painting very different pictures of housing development in the state’s second-largest city.

Mayor Byron Brown sees a city on the rise, driven by adaptive reuse and new construction that has drawn new residents to Buffalo.

His opponent, Democratic nominee India Walton, sees an aging city mired in failed policies of the past, and challenged by an inability – or unwillingness – to meet the housing needs of its poor and minority populations.

By Charlie Specht & Dan Herbeck

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A Buffalo City Hall agency that was raided two years ago by federal agents has given $20 million in funds over the past eight years to contributors to Mayor Byron W. Brown’s campaign.

It has also sold property or awarded exclusive development rights to campaign contributors without public bidding, though the Brown administration says campaign cash has nothing to do with getting city contracts.

The Buffalo News analyzed eight years of spending by the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency, at whose offices the FBI executed a search warrant in 2019. The agency doles out millions of dollars in anti-poverty money and economic development funds the city receives from the federal government each year.

By Robert J. McCarthy & Tom Precious

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The hot contest for mayor of Buffalo is suddenly dominating New York’s political agenda as one of the state’s top figures plunges into the race and another clings to the sidelines.

The Buffalo News learned Tuesday that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of the Bronx will campaign in Buffalo on Saturday for a like-minded progressive, Democratic nominee India B. Walton, who is challenging four-term incumbent Byron W. Brown. At the same time, Gov. Kathy Hochul is making headlines by sitting out the race and expressing no preference for mayor of her hometown.