For the first time in a decade, the Buffalo Common Council will have a woman as a member.
Democrat Zeneta B. Everhart was elected Tuesday night to the open Masten District seat and Democrat Leah Halton-Pope was elected to the open Ellicott District seat.
Fillmore Council Member Mitchell P. Nowakowski, who ran unopposed for a second term, said he is looking forward to working with the two women.
“I never worked for or was elected to a Council with female members. I love it … and I think that the best is yet to come with them being two new members. And honestly, when you think about it, in 2024 the Council will look more like the city of Buffalo – LGBT, Latino, Black, female. It will be more representative of the city where we live,” said Nowakowski, considered to be the first openly gay man to be elected to the Common Council.
All nine seats on the all-Democratic Buffalo Common Council were up for election, but only four seats were contested, and only one of those had a Republican opponent.
There were no upsets as two incumbents, Democrats Rasheed N.C. Wyatt and Bryan J. Bollman, easily defeated their challengers, and five incumbents ran unopposed.
But one question mark from Tuesday’s elections remains: Who will be the next Council president in January when the new board holds its reorganizational meeting to select its leadership? It will be the first time in nearly a decade the Council will have a new leader.
But the public does not get a vote in that Council president election process. Council members will have conversations among themselves and lobby to garner support and votes for the various leadership and committee chairperson positions.
There’s another reason the Council president position has been garnering attention lately: Whoever takes over as president would automatically become mayor if Byron W. Brown resigns.
Brown, the city’s longest-serving mayor, is rumored to be in consideration to become the next…
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