Democrats faced off in three Erie County-based primaries for open seats in the State Legislature, two available because of retirement announcements and a third because the incumbent is seeking another office.
The counting of thousands of absentee ballots will decide the races, but early results showed the endorsed candidates leading in one race, an upstart leading in another race and a candidate from Rochester leading in the third based on a surge of votes from Monroe County.
61st State Senate
The three candidates in the 61st State Senate district are Amherst Town Board member Jacqualine G. Berger, 64, who won the support of Erie County Democrats and various public employee unions; Joan Elizabeth Seamans, 65, owner of Short Street Photography in Williamsville, who unsuccessfully sought the seat in 2018; and Kim Smith, 51, who worked 25 years in Monroe County's Health Department.
People are also reading…
Counting early voting and voting on primary day, Smith and Berger had pulled far ahead of Seamans. But the greater portion of the votes were from Smith's Rochester.
But absentees could make a difference. In the Erie County portion of the 61st State Senate district alone, 16,659 Democrats requested absentee ballots and 10,617, or 64%, were returned so far.
"We're not going to know anything for weeks," Berger said Tuesday.
The winner will take on Erie County Legislator Edward A. Rath III, R-Amherst, in the fall. The seat is open because veteran State Sen. Michael Ranzenhofer, an Amherst Republican, is retiring.
The Democratic-leaning district includes Amherst, Clarence, Newstead, Williamsville and Akron; all of Genesee County; and the towns of Riga and Chili and a slice of Rochester in Monroe County.
140th Assembly
In the 140th Assembly district, which runs from North Buffalo to North Tonawanda, attorney Kevin T. Stocker was narrowly leading Tonawanda Town Board member William C. Conrad in in-person voting late Tuesday.
But Democrats in the 140th district requested 11,268 absentee ballots and mailed back 7,273 so far, so absentee ballots are what will count in the race.
Conrad, 42 and the party's endorsed candidate, is taking on Stocker, 56, who is running an outsider's campaign, for the chance to replace Assemblyman Robin L. Schimminger, D-Kenmore, who is retiring after serving in office since 1977.
The largely Democratic district includes the Town and City of Tonawanda, Village of Kenmore and parts of North Buffalo and North Tonawanda. The winner will take on Republican Robert Pecoraro, a North Tonawanda alderman and retired Air Force colonel.
149th Assembly
In early voting and in-person voting on primary day in the 149th Assembly district, Jon Rivera had a wide lead over opponents Adam Bojak and Robert Quintana late Tuesday.
Democrats in the district running from North Buffalo south to Hamburg had requested 13,961 mail-in ballots and sent back 8,329, or 60%, so far.
The three Democrats are campaigning to take the place of Assemblyman Sean Ryan, D-Buffalo, who is giving up his Assembly seat to make a run for State Senate.
Bojak, 36, is a lawyer; Quintana, 58, is a retired Buffalo police officer and former member of the Buffalo Common Council; and Rivera, 33, is an administrator in Erie County’s Department of Public Works who has the party's backing.
The heavily Democratic district runs through North Buffalo, the West Side, downtown, the waterfront and into Lackawanna and Hamburg. The winner will be favored in the general election against Joseph Totaro, chairman of Buffalo's Republican Committee.
