Voters will have one more chance to see Buffalo's mayoral candidates face off directly against each other.
India Walton and Byron Brown have agreed to participate in the annual debate at St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute, a mainstay of the Western New York political scene since 1984.
The debate is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. Wednesday at the Town of Tonawanda school, six days before Election Day. While the debate is not open to the public, it traditionally garners coverage from local news outlets.
Walton, the Democratic nominee for mayor, will debate four-term incumbent Brown, who is waging a write-in campaign. Also in the debate will be another write-in candidate, Ben Carlisle.
Walton's campaign manager, Jesse Myerson, said Walton changed her previous opposition to another debate because students will be involved in the St. Joe’s event.
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“It struck her as a special kind of debate,” Myerson said.
The debate is organized by St. Joe's teacher Ted Lina’s American Government and Politics class.
“It’s a good thing for voters because the more Ms. Walton talks the more they realize she is unprepared, inexperienced and not ready for the position of mayor of Buffalo,” Brown said.
The candidates have only debated each other once before in September. Before the primary in which Walton won, Brown had refused to debate Walton. After she won, she initially rejected debating Brown, but agreed to the one debate in September.
