With only a month remaining in the 2021 election cycle, one of America’s most impoverished Rust Belt cities is facing the incredible choice of whether or not to elect the first openly socialist mayor of a major U.S. city since Milwaukee in 1960.
India Walton, a nurse and former union organizer, has landed on the ballot following a stunning upset in a Democratic primary that was largely ignored by the incumbent Democratic mayor of four terms. Walton supports massive cuts to the Buffalo Police Department, a moratorium on new charter schools, and turning Buffalo into a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants.
The race has served as a wake-up call for Buffalo Democrats, who now face the prospect of being governed by a socialist, as well as losing massive numbers of police officers if Walton’s policing cuts were allowed to go through. Enough concern has been shown to cause the current Democratic mayor and loser of the Democratic mayoral primary, Byron Brown, to wage a last-minute write-in campaign effort to save his administration.
Walton’s primary victory has also alarmed local business leaders, who fear that a socialist form of government will further squeeze business and financial prospects out of an already struggling city. Local business leader and former gubernatorial nominee Carl Paladino has pledged his support to a Brown write-in campaign, saying he will do everything in his power to “destroy” Walton’s candidacy.
While the Walton campaign benefited from renewed progressive interest following the 2020 George Floyd protests and election of President Joe Biden in 2020, it has also been dogged by several legal claims from Walton’s previous relationships with co-workers and landlords. Walton was arrested in 2014 after threatening to break a co-worker’s legs and saying, “I’m gonna take you out.” Additionally, Walton was accused of food stamp fraud by the Erie County Department of Social Services in 2003, eventually being forced to repay hundreds of dollars in welfare benefits.
Despite the current mayor’s efforts to save his candidacy and his administration via a write-in campaign, there is still a large possibility that Walton will be elected in November. Democrats outnumber Republicans by a ratio of 2:1 in Erie County, where Buffalo is located, and Republicans have chosen not to field a candidate against Walton in the mayoral election. The Brown campaign was also recently dealt a setback in both state and federal appellate courts, which ruled against attempts to include the candidate’s name on the ballot on a separate line.
Walton remains the only socialist candidate on the ballot for mayor of a major U.S. city this year, and if she wins, she would be the first elected self-professed socialist of a major city since Milwaukee Mayor Frank Zeidler retired in 1960. Walton has pledged massive cuts of $7.5 million from an already underfunded Buffalo Police Department, cuts that would likely result in losses of more than 100 police officers. Meanwhile, the number of shootings in the city has dramatically increased during the pandemic, a deadly outcome police officers say is a result of decreased police outreach related to COVID-19 and lack of in-person schooling. If Walton becomes the city’s next mayor, her socialist policies will further destroy the already struggling city of Buffalo.
John Patrick (@john_pat_rick) is a graduate of Canisius College and Georgia Southern University. He interned for Red Alert Politics during the summer of 2012.
