Election Day 2024: Races to watch in Buffalo, WNY
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – Election Day is finally here, and WIVB News 4 is Your Local Election Headquarters. This page includes a rundown of the biggest races we're monitoring across Western New York, organized by constituency.
Polls close at 9 p.m. If you need help finding your polling place, click here.
Our Election Results page can be found here.
President of the United States
All eyes will obviously be on the presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris (D) and former President Donald Trump (R), though it could be days before we know the result. You can see a breakdown of the electoral college vote here, and see the latest national political news here.
U.S. Senate
Result: Gillibrand was declared the winner.
Preview: Incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand (D) is running for another term against challenger Michael Sapraicone (R). Gillibrand has represented New York in Washington since 2009 and serves on the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, the Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Special Committee on Aging. She also chairs two subcommittees. Sapraicone is a retired NYPD detective who founded his own security firm in 2000 but has little experience in public office.
Congress
Western New York's three seats in the House of Representatives are up for re-election, and all three incumbents are running.
Result: All three incumbents won in comfortable margins.
NY-26
Preview: Tim Kennedy (D) seeks a full term in office after winning a special election to replace Brian Higgins in April. Higgins had represented Western New York since 2005. Kennedy faces Anthony Marecki (R), a lawyer and UB grad whose only other bid for public office was an unsuccessful campaign to become a New York Supreme Court justice in 2021. The 26th district includes the City of Buffalo and all of its first-ring suburbs and stretches up to Niagara Falls.
NY-23
Preview: Nick Langworthy (R), who won an election in 2022 to represent Tom Reed's former district, faces a challenge from Tom Carle (D). Before taking office, Langworthy was the New York State GOP Chair. Carle, a Broome County native who now lives in Fredonia, is a retired plant manager of food and beverage manufacturing, and a former human resources manager. The district includes eastern and southern Erie County in addition to the Southern Tier stretching from Lake Erie to Elmira.
NY-24
Preview: Claudia Tenney (R) faces David Wagenhauser (D) in her bid for a third term in Congress. Tenney was initially elected in the 22nd district, winning in 2020 by just over 100 votes, and took over the vast 24th district following redistricting in 2022. Wagenhauser previously served as a village trustee in Brockport and also took on First Amendment issues as a lawyer. The strangely shaped district has a western border that touches the lower Niagara River in Lewiston and Porter, then makes a U-shape around Rochester, then continues up Lake Ontario all the way to the Thousand Islands.
New York State Senate
Two of WNY's five state senate districts feature races worth watching. Meanwhile, Republicans Rob Ortt (62nd district), Pat Gallivan (60th) and George Borrello (57th) are running unopposed.
63rd District
This seat was vacated by Tim Kennedy (D) in the spring when he won a seat in Congress. April Baskin (D) is running for her first statewide post after seven years in the Erie County Legislature, where she rose to the position of chairperson. She faces a challenge from Jack Moretti (R), a former state trooper who boasted an endorsement from Bills Hall of Famer Jim Kelly. The district includes the majority of Buffalo, Cheektowaga, Lackawanna.
61st District
Sean Ryan (D) is running for another term representing the 61st district after a rare battle between two incumbent state senators in 2022 that was set up due to redistricting. He previously represented New York's 60th district in state senate and was a state assemblyman from 2011 to 2021. He faces Christine Czarnik (R), a Republican committee chairwoman in the Town of Tonawanda who returned to WNY in 2020 after many years living in South Carolina. The district includes a portion of Buffalo roughly encompassing North Buffalo and the West Side down to the Elmwood Village, as well as Tonawanda, Amherst and Grand Island.
New York State Assembly
A handful of WNY's dozen Assembly districts feature races worth watching. Among the highlights:
143rd District
Monica Wallace (D) is running for a fifth term in a district that includes Cheektowaga, Lancaster, Depew, Sloan, and a snippet of Buffalo. A win would give her a decade of leadership for the region in Albany after a legal career as a law clerk in federal court. Her challenger in the tight district is Patrick Chludzinski (R), a first-time candidate born and raised in the Village of Sloan who boasts his public safety record as a Cheektowaga Police Lieutenant and an Army veteran. The issue of asylum seekers has often played out locally in Cheektowaga, and could be on voters' minds at the polls.
142nd District
Incumbent Patrick Burke (D) is seeking a fourth term but has been hammered in ads by challenger Marc Priore (R) over accusations made against Burke by his former staffers. Burke told the Buffalo News that the Assembly Ethics Committee held an investigation and determined the accusations were unfounded. Burke has been in the Assembly since 2018 and previously served in the Erie County Legislature. Priore, a first-time candidate for public office, joined the Erie County Sheriff's Department in 2008 and has risen up the ranks.
All races
- 139th: Stephen Hawley (R, incumbent) unopposed
- 140th: Bill Conrad (D, incumbent) unopposed
- 141st: Crystal Peoples-Stokes (D, incumbent) unopposed
- 142nd: Patrick Burke (D, incumbent) vs. Marc Priore (R)
- 143rd: Monica Wallace (D, incumbent) vs. Patrick Chludzinski (R)
- 144th: Michelle Roman (D) vs. Paul Bologna (R) -- filling seat held by Michael Norris (R)
- 145th: Jeffrey Elder (D) vs. Angelo Morinello (R, incumbent)
- 146th: Karen McMahon (D, incumbent) vs. Deborah Kilbourn (R)
- 147th: Darci Cramer (D) vs. David DiPietro (R, incumbent)
- 148th: Daniel Brown (D) vs. Joseph Sempolinski (R) -- filling seat held by Joseph Giglio (R)
- 149th: Jonathan Rivera (D, incumbent) unopposed
- 150th: Mike Bobseine (D) vs. Andrew Molitor (R) -- filling seat held by Andy Goodell (R)
Erie County District Attorney
Michael Keane (D) has been the county's acting District Attorney since taking over for John Flynn in the spring. Keane had served as First Deputy District Attorney since 2017 and was promptly endorsed by Erie County Democrats after Flynn announced plans to step down. Keane is running against James Gardner (R), who began his law career trying cases for the DA's office and now serves as the Principal Law Clerk to Erie County Judge Kenneth Case.
Statewide Proposition 1
Result: The amendment overwhelmingly passed, according the AP.
Preview: The state’s proposed “Equal Rights Amendment” seeks to expand a section of the state constitution that relates to protected civil rights, but it has been hotly contested over disagreements about what it will do if passed. Read a breakdown from the Associated Press here.
Erie County Proposition 1
Not to be confused with the statewide measure, this local proposal relates to how the county government approves sales tax.
Cattaraugus County Sheriff
Eric Butler (R) has been the acting sheriff since Tim Whitcomb retired in August and is running to be elected to the job permanently. He is a longtime member of the department who previously held the role of Undersheriff. He faces D.J. Whitmore (D), an Air Force veteran and longtime Federal Bureau of Prisons employee whose website bears the slogan, "Vote for the person, not the party."
Buffalo Board of Education
Three at-large seat on the school board are up for grabs. Six candidates are running, including two incumbents: Larry Scott (incumbent), Terrance Heard (incumbent), Adrianna Zullich, Janita Everhart, Edward Speidel, and Raziya Hill.