2022 Election coverage: Your guide to the races affecting WNY

WASHINGTON – His full name rhymes with "opinion," and he's got plenty of them.

Joe Pinion, the Republican candidate challenging Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, equates Schumer's resistance to charter schools with the "Jim Crow" polices that kept the races separate and unequal for decades. He says both Schumer and Sen. Lindsay Graham, a South Carolina Republican, are lying to the American people by saying Congress can do something about abortion. And he thinks he can knock off Schumer in the Nov. 8 general election.

As Gov. Kathy Hochul defended her economic development record before local business leaders Friday, it didn't take long for her to sum it up in one word:

Micron.

As Republican Nicholas A. Langworthy campaigns in one of New York's reddest congressional districts, he now boasts what could rank as his most impactful endorsement – Donald J. Trump.

The former president late Thursday tweeted his "Complete and Total Endorsement," the phrase he has employed for years in conveying his approval of GOP candidates committed to his agenda.

There were no fireworks in the live debate between 23rd Congressional District candidates Max Della Pia and Nick Langworthy on television Tuesday night, just a lot of clashing swords.

Langworthy, the state Republican chairman, had the flashier blade and was quick on his feet with his party's lines about law and order and the shortcomings of the Biden and Hochul administrations.

State Sens. Ed Rath and Sean Ryan have agreed to a debate set to take place six days before next month's general election.

St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute in the Town of Tonawanda will host the pair on Nov. 2 in their annual political debate.

Over the next 3½ weeks, New York State voters will hear lots about the “horse race.”

That’s the dismissive term critics of the press correctly assign to media consumed by who’s leading in the far turn or losing down the stretch. In the pages of The Buffalo News, we try to transcend that kind of coverage and concentrate on important issues.

What would a New York election season be without a lawsuit – this one even before the votes are counted – by one side or the other?

This time, it’s Republicans and Conservatives, including Erie County’s native son state GOP chairman and its GOP elections commissioner. They're aghast that Democrats want to make it easier to vote by promoting absentee ballots.

WASHINGTON – Nicholas A. Langworthy's campaign for Congress got a mysterious million dollars in outside aid to fund a wave of ads that helped him defeat Buffalo developer Carl P. Paladino in a Republican primary in August.

Federal records show that the American Liberty Action PAC, which was created this summer, dumped $1.04 million into the GOP primary in New York's recently redrawn 23rd District, which covers parts of suburban Buffalo and most of the Southern Tier. Those records show that most of that money went to television and digital ads and text messages attacking Paladino, long a fiery and controversial figure in GOP circles, rather than boosting Langworthy.

For about a quarter century, Erie County Republicans never appreciated reminders of their failure to field candidates in the City of Buffalo.

Since the 1990s, observers pointed out, the GOP only rarely challenged Buffalo Democrats in the Common Council, County Legislature or State Legislature. The city became just too Democratic. Republican candidates got consistently creamed. And The Buffalo News once portrayed former Buffalo Republican Chairman Ed Ryan as the political Maytag Repairman – nobody ever called.

The Wednesday shooting of a mother in Buffalo has not only sparked an areawide hunt for her estranged husband accused of the killing, but an apparent statewide political firestorm too.

Top Republicans like gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin and state Republican Chairman Nicholas A. Langworthy are expressing outrage because the suspect wanted for killing Keaira Bennefield in front of her three children had been released from custody in Cheektowaga Town Court the previous night. They maintain that the victim would never have encountered the man police suspect may have shot her – Adam R. Bennefield – at Shawnee and Richlawn avenues around 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

By Republican standards, Rep. Lee Zeldin of Suffolk County competes for governor this fall as an ideal candidate.

He's an Army veteran of the Iraq War and a four-term incumbent from vote-rich Long Island. He proved himself by winning June's difficult GOP primary, while his Jewish background appeals to a key New York constituency. And he identifies as a tough-on-crime critic of incumbent Democrat Kathy Hochul's embrace of bail reform and other programs, even picking a former NYPD police captain – Alison Esposito – as his running mate.

Republicans slammed the recent move by state Democrats to mail to an unknown number of voters absentee-ballot applications with several fields on the form prefilled.

Democrats urged recipients to cite fear of contracting Covid-19 at a polling place as their reason for requesting an absentee ballot and pre-checked this selection on the applications.

Incumbent Democrat Kathy Hochul holds a strong 17-point lead over Republican challenger Lee Zeldin in the contest for governor of New York, according to a new Siena College poll released Wednesday.

The Sept. 16-25 survey of 655 likely voters shows Hochul leading 54-37% in overwhelmingly Democratic New York, up slightly from 53-39% in August. It also shows Democrats leading in every major race polled, while the governor demonstrates overwhelming strength among her own Democrats.

The Erie County clerk's race may not be sexy, but it should matter to anyone who has ever gotten a driver's license, registered a car, turned in plates, applied for a gun permit or bought a house.

This year's clerk's race may represent the biggest test incumbent Michael "Mickey" Kearns has faced in his seat for the office since first taking over the position in 2017.

Early voting begins Saturday in New York, and some local officials expect a high-profile governor's race and the intense national debate over the midterm elections to drive turnout here.

Voters can head to the polls over the nine days from Saturday to Nov. 6 to cast their ballots early.

Election day this year is an off-year for many communities, and one of the only local contests in Erie County is for town justice in Cheektowaga, where an attorney and a retired police sergeant are vying for votes.

Town justices will be elected in 15 towns in Erie County, but the only other contested local race outside Buffalo is for Marilla town justice, where Taylor A. Erhardt, who has the Democrat, Republican, Conservative and Working Families parties lines, is being challenged by Howard S. Lobaugh Jr., who is running on the Marilla Patriot Party line.

NEW YORK – Lee Zeldin was visiting his second Manhattan synagogue of the morning last week on a day that would eventually log six appearances around New York City – that vast voter stronghold where the Republican must persuade usually loyal Democrats to support his underdog campaign for governor.

At Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on East 85th Street in Manhattan, the congressman and Iraq War veteran from Suffolk County was immediately surrounded by dozens of worshipers gathering after Sabbath services in a vast and sweltering community room. All wanted to shake his hand or offer encouragement. Even Israel's ambassador to the United Nations – Gilad Erdan – cornered him for several minutes in a sign of the congressman's standing not only in international circles, but in a key ethnic voting bloc, too.

A successful legal challenge to the once-a-decade New York redistricting process has set up a rare election fight between two sitting state senators.

Republican Edward A. Rath III is taking on Democrat Sean M. Ryan in the redrawn 61st Senate District that reaches from Grand Island east to Amherst.

Donald Garland was one of the first voters to fill out a ballot in Erie County on the first day of early voting Saturday. The retired corrections officer and U.S. Army veteran arrived at the Delavan Grider Community Center at 9 a.m., as soon as the site opened, to vote on an issue he said was of great concern.

“There is no reason for people, unless they are in the Army or a police officer, to have access to assault weapons,” said Garland, who voted "strictly Democrat," including for Gov. Kathy Hochul. “If you want to own a gun, fine, but not an assault weapon."

How do you serve a diverse and vibrant district whose residents also face intimidating barriers and which has tremendous need?

That's the pressing question for the incumbent and two challengers vying for the West District seat on the Buffalo School Board in the election that ends Nov. 8, the first time in nearly five decades that district races have run concurrently with general elections. Jennifer Mecozzi eyes her third three-year term representing the district, but challengers Le'Candice Durham and Mustafa Abdo aim to unseat her. 

Throughout New York State over the past few days, nervous Democrats have been fretting about the suddenly competitive race for governor.

Polls showed Republican Lee Zeldin steadily gaining on incumbent Democrat Kathy Hochul. Viewers across the state actually tuned into the pair’s Tuesday night debate at Pace University, and national cable shows featured the fiery faceoff all day Wednesday.

NEW YORK – Gov. Kathy Hochul came to a 1960s-era shopping mall in Jamaica, Queens, on Sunday to urge local Democrats to do something they've long done, but that some fear they may not do in huge enough numbers this year: vote for a Democrat for governor.

Speaking at a rally in the mall's atrium, Hochul portrayed her opponent, Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin of Long Island, as an extremist who wants to curtail a woman's right to abortion and who voted against certifying President Biden's election.

Three Democratic judges appointed to their Buffalo City Court posts last summer – JaHarr S. Pridgen, Samuel P. Davis and Gary A. Wilson – are vying for full, 10-year terms on Election Day.

A fourth candidate, Republican Christina G. Holdsworth, also is on the ballot for City Court judge.

ROCHESTER – As Democrat Kathy Hochul took the stage at Abraham Lincoln School 22 on Upper Falls Boulevard Saturday, the lineup behind her seemed to represent all the advantages enjoyed by the incumbent governor of New York.

Rep. Joe Morrelle and Monroe County Executive Adam Bello bring the power of the area's Democratic Party. Adam Urbanski, president of the Rochester Teachers Association, commands an army of unionized teachers knocking on doors and making phone calls.

The TV ad is everywhere – just as it would have you believe violent crime in New York is everywhere. Grainy clips, flashing by in rapid succession, showing armed hoodlums committing all manner of assorted mayhem.

Never mind that an early version of the ad included footage from Oakland, Calif. Never mind that one gun-toting “criminal” was someone having a mental health crisis who was actually holding a piece of metal, not a firearm. And never mind that the pandemic crime surge was national, in red states and blue.

Until last December, state Attorney General Letitia James was considered the Democratic Party's leading candidate for governor in 2022 following the resignation of Andrew M. Cuomo.

But a gubernatorial campaign never gained traction for the veteran politician from Brooklyn, and now her 2022 plans remain solely focused on re-election as the state's top law enforcement officer. 

State Sens. Edward A. Rath III, an Amherst Republican, and Sean M. Ryan, a Buffalo Democrat, both support the agreement to spend $850 million in public money to build a new Bills stadium.

That was about the only thing they agreed on during their debate Wednesday at St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute, where they presented opposing views on how best to improve public safety, combat higher prices and other campaign issues.

C

New York Democrats like what they see in early and absentee voting, and label as "myth" any notion that Republican Lee Zeldin is eclipsing Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul in the torrid contest for governor of New York.

Three state Assembly districts in Erie County have become "battlegrounds," with Assembly Democrats spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to retain the seats, while Assembly Republicans are donating significant amounts to pull an upset in one of the races.

Campaign spending in each of the three Assembly districts is well over $200,000, and it is showing in mailboxes filled with campaign fliers, signs in yards and ads on television.

For more than two decades, Nicholas A. Langworthy toiled as a "behind the scenes guy" – the political operative type who shunned the limelight, but managed the politics for a host of local and state Republicans.

All that changed in June, when Langworthy suddenly and unexpectedly became the Republican candidate for the 23rd Congressional District. Now, the state GOP chairman heads toward Election Day as the favorite to capture the overwhelmingly Republican district, and if successful against Democrat Max Della Pia, must undergo a major transition to elected member of Congress.

Max Della Pia was knocking on doors along Maple Avenue in Hamburg a few days ago in an old-fashioned approach to running for Congress.

The Democrat and 30-year Air Force veteran has not raised much campaign money in his uphill effort against Nicholas A. Langworthy, the Republican nominee in the 23rd Congressional District – New York's most Republican. His ads will not even appear on TV let alone dominate the airwaves like those of other candidates this year. And Della Pia is hardly recognized anywhere beyond his home base of Owego in Tioga County.

Six candidates are vying this year for five seats on the Western New York bench of State Supreme Court.

Four candidates – two Republicans and two Democrats – are cross-endorsed by the Republican and Democratic parties and appear on both parties' ballot lines.

Most of the money in the race for New York governor has come from New York City.

But deep-pocketed donors in Western New York have opened their wallets to chip in more than $1.8 million this year to the campaigns of Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, and Rep. Lee Zeldin, her Republican challenger.

Three cheers for New York’s commitment to serving its voters and especially for Erie County, a leader in providing a healthy supply of places for voters to cast early ballots.

Early voting for November’s general election began last Saturday in New York and continues through Sunday. It’s another year of heightened interest in Erie County, even with early voting around half the rate of the presidential election year of 2020.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The story of New York politics since 2002 has always started and ended with Democrats. But in 2022, Rep. Lee Zeldin’s campaign for governor puts our state into Republican play for the first time in memory, and a mesmerized electorate now looks forward to the results on Tuesday – Election Day.

For sure, Erie County will loom as one of the key locales. That’s because Erie County’s Democratic plurality of about 132,000 voters lands it squarely in blue turf. And in the past, if Republicans like Nelson Rockefeller and George Pataki were to win statewide, they succeeded partially via success in upstate’s largest county.

NEW YORK – Rep. Lee Zeldin stood on the back of a flatbed truck on the edge of a park in a middle-class Queens neighborhood last weekend and made a declaration that drew cheers from a crowd of hundreds.

"There is a crime emergency here in the state right now, and if Kathy Hochul will not declare it, if the State Legislature right now will not come to the table to fix it, we will make the State Legislature come to the table by day one," said Zeldin, the Republican candidate for governor of New York.

Helen Duryea first voted in 1952 when Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected president. And she was back voting at Moose Lodge 992 in Hamburg on Sunday afternoon, this time in the governor's race. 

"I didn't know if I wanted to stand in a long line on voting day, so I thought I'd come early," the 96-year-old Hamburg resident said, as a slow trickle of voters pulled in and out of the parking lot. 

The 2022 election wraps up Tuesday with intensely fought races up and down the ballot here and across the country.

Nationally, control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are at stake in this midterm election.

Few Republican leaders over the past two decades have reflected the kind of optimism about a statewide election as Michael A. Kracker on Monday.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin, the new Erie County GOP chairman said, shows real strength in Western New York that could yield surprises if the party can turn out its voters in the closer than expected contest against incumbent Democrat Kathy Hochul.

Lee Zeldin's campaign pitch resonated among Orchard Park voters.

Buffalo voters had a different take, however, among those interviewed Tuesday by The Buffalo News.