2013 Buffalo mayoral election

The 2013 Buffalo mayoral race is notable as the first mayoral election in Buffalo's history to not feature any white, non-Hispanic candidates in either the primary or the general elections. A Buffalo News editorial noted that despite the historic racial aspect of the election, Buffalo voters that year tended to be more concerned with traditional issues such as crime and education, in sharp contrast to the deep ethnic divisions that have normally characterized city politics.[2]

Leading up to the primary elections on September 10, Brown, Tolbert and Rodriguez participated in three televised debates.

The first mayoral debate took place on August 14, 2013 at the Buffalo News auditorium,[11] sponsored by the Buffalo Association of Black Journalists and moderated by Al Vaughters of WIVB-TV.[12] The dominant issue at the first debate was crime, with Rodriguez disputing Brown's assertion that crime had decreased in the city since the previous election; Brown rebutted by calling Rodriguez's statistics "absolutely false"[13] and "nonsense".[11] In addition, both Tolbert and Rodriguez claimed that Buffalo's police department was understaffed and inefficient, with Brown disputing Tolbert's specific claims that there had been a net loss in officers employed by the Buffalo Police since Brown's mayoral tenure began.[13] Other issues that were debated included unemployment, with Brown forced to defend his administration in the face of statistics cited by Rodriguez showing that the unemployment rate in Buffalo had risen from 6.3% to 10% during Brown's two terms as mayor,[13] and low graduation rates in the Buffalo Public Schools, with Tolbert calling for more involvement by the mayor's office in the school system and Rodriguez going even further, favoring complete mayoral control of the school board as in New York City and Yonkers,[14] while Brown reaffirmed his commitment to cooperation with the Board of Education[11] but denied he had the authority to directly participate in school-district policymaking.[14]

The second debate was held on August 22, 2013 at St. Mary's School for the Deaf, sponsored by the Parkside Community Association and moderated by Buffalo News reporter Brian Meyer, with questions fielded directly from the audience. The beleaguered state of the Buffalo Public Schools was the dominant topic in the second debate, with Tolbert elaborating on his earlier position regarding mayoral involvement in the school board by proposing that three of the nine school board members, as well as the school superintendent, be appointed directly by the mayor, while Rodriguez repeated his earlier call for direct mayoral control of the schools. Brown, for his part, touted his success in restoring music programs to Buffalo city schools as well as the hiring of more school security officers.[15] In addition, the Brown administration's record on economic development was attacked by both challengers, with Brown's boasts of $1.7 billion in development projects currently underway in the city[15] countered by Tolbert's criticism that Brown allowed the Buffalo Economic Renaissance Corporation to fold under his watch, as well as his characterization of economic development in Buffalo as concentrated in downtown at the expense of the neighborhoods. As well, Rodriguez cited statistics showing that Buffalo's employment base had been reduced by 10,000 people since Brown took office in 2006.[16]

The third and final mayoral debate was held on August 27, 2013 at WNED-TV studios.[17] The candidates reiterated the points covered in the first two debates on police department staffing issues, unemployment,[18] economic development, and problems in the Buffalo Public Schools.[19] On the subject of crime, both Rodriguez and Tolbert derided Brown's use of gun buyback programs as a remedy for crime, with Tolbert characterizing the buybacks as "stunts".[19] Also in the third debate, Tolbert was put on the defensive when he was asked about a sexual harassment lawsuit that had been filed against him while he was an executive at the National Basketball Association,[18] while Brown was compelled to deny reports that his administration was rewarding campaign donors with patronage jobs as a quid pro quo[19] and described a lawsuit filed against the city by a housing development company alleging a pay-to-play policy for awarding contracts as "baseless" and "absolute nonsense".[18]

Rodriguez officially announced his candidacy on February 6, 2013.[6] His robust campaign featured an active social media presence[27] and an emphasis on grassroots campaigning as exemplified by his "30 Day Every Neighborhood Tour" in September and October, which saw the candidate go door-to-door interacting with and fielding questions from residents of all parts of the city.[37] Nonetheless, it was remarked in the Buffalo News that although Rodriguez had generated some buzz among Buffalo Hispanics, he had as yet failed to unite the city's Latino community in support of his long-shot candidacy.[2]

In addition to his pursuit of the Conservative line, Rodriguez's petitions for an independent run also bore fruit with his announcement on September 25 that he would be running on a new ballot line, dubbed the Progressive Party.[38] The party's name and platform make direct reference to the Progressive or "Bull Moose" Party founded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, with a stated goal of reforming city government by transcending partisan divisions and "making governmental changes parallel with the changing needs of its people... with a dignity defined by moral strength and urgency".[39]

Brown received the endorsement of the Erie County Democratic Party, and also of the Erie County Conservative, Working Families, and Independence parties. He was also endorsed by, among others, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo,[40] U.S. Senator Charles Schumer,[27] U.S. Congressman Brian Higgins, New York State Senator Tim Kennedy, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, New York State Assemblypeople Crystal Peoples-Stokes, Sean Ryan, and Michael Kearns (the latter of whom had been his primary challenger in the previous election), the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, and the Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors.[41]

Tolbert, whose criticism of Brown in the months leading up to the Democratic primary largely centered on the incumbent mayor's crime-fighting efforts, received the endorsement of the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association in July 2013.[42] Tolbert also received the endorsement of Challenger Community News,[43] one of Buffalo's two African-American community newspapers.

Rodriguez received the endorsement of the City of Buffalo Republican Committee.[10] However, the Erie County Republican Party declined to endorse Rodriguez,[44] amid accusations from Rodriguez's camp that county Republican officials pressured him to drop out of the race for fear that increased voter turnout in heavily Democratic Buffalo could be a detriment to Republican candidates for countywide office.[45] Rodriguez also received the endorsement of "The Griffin",[46] the Canisius College student paper.

• Sergio Rodriguez for Mayor of Buffalo - Official campaign website of Sergio Rodriguez
• Tolbert 2013 - Official campaign website of Bernard Tolbert
• Re-Elect Mayor Byron Brown - Official campaign website of Byron Brown