India Walton Declares Victory in Primary for Buffalo Mayor

In what is turning out to be a significant upset, political newcomer India Walton appears to have beaten Byron Brown in the New York State Democratic Primary Election for Buffalo Mayor.

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According to the unofficial election results that have been released by the Erie County Board of Elections, Walton held a 7 percentage point lead over Brown in the three-way race for the Democratic nomination for mayor.

• Byron W. Brown - 44.83% with 9,625 Votes Cast
• Le'Candice M. Durham - 3.03% with 650 Votes Cast
• India B. Walton - 51.85% with 11,132 Votes Cast
• WRITE-IN - 0.29% with 62 Votes Cast

So far a total of 21,469 votes have been counted in this election. These results will remain unofficial until write-in, absentee, and provisional votes are counted by the Board of Elections. That process can take up to 25 days to be completed. So we won't have an official winner of this election until then.

In the meantime, the Walton campaign has declared victory, and in her victory speech, Walton spoke about a series of changes that are coming to Buffalo under her pending leadership.

If you are in elected office right now you are being put on notice
-India Walton

In a speech to supporters, the 4-term incumbent Bryon Brown did not concede defeat and pledged that he would ensure that all votes would be counted before moving forward in this election cycle.

If these results do stand as is, Walton will move on to the general election in November as the Democratic Nominee for Mayor. With no other political parties fielding a candidate in this race, it would then be likely Walton would go on to win in November.

Since 1966, the person who won the Democratic nomination for Buffalo Mayor has gone on to win the general election.