A political upstart with leftist politics and the backing of the Democratic Socialists of America unseats a heavily favored party elder in the Democratic primary for the mayor's race of a major city in New York. The party apparatus reels, and the elite interests that backed the more moderate candidate begin calculating how to approach the general election.
It's the position New York City finds itself in today. It also describes the situation in Buffalo in 2021, when India Walton beat out incumbent mayor Byron Brown in the Democratic primary, drawing national attention to a small municipal race.
What happened next in Buffalo was equally remarkable. Despite winning the Democratic nomination, Walton found party leaders strangely reluctant to rally to her campaign. Brown, meanwhile, launched a furious write-in campaign, winning the tacit backing of the business and political leadership of the City and doing his best to persuade Buffalo voters that Walton, the party's nominee, was a dangerous radical.
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