It’s a tale of two parties in Erie County this September.
Down in the Democrats’ Larkinville lair, Chairman Jeremy Zellner will seek a sixth term as county chairman at the Sept. 24 reorganization meeting. That means Zellner has presided over the once rebellious group for a decade.
The minutes of Zellner’s reorg are expected to record a ho-hum affair with little or no opposition. That’s a far cry from the Steve Pigeon era, when party reorg sessions under the former chairman (now in jail on bribery charges) resembled the saloon fights of an old Western movie.
Back then, Carl McCall, the former state comptroller and 2002 gubernatorial candidate, used to fear for his political life when visiting Erie County. He never knew where to step among the warring camps, he famously joked, for fear of setting off a land mine.
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Zellner says his party is different now. Its huge debt from the Pigeon hangover is retired, and Erie County’s Dems are in sync with statewide Dems (unlike the days when then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo ignored them). Now, party figures like Zellner, Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes and Jennifer Hibit (former aide to County Executive Mark Poloncarz, now with the Water Authority) are expected to assume vice chair roles when state Democrats meet in Albany on Thursday.
“For the most part, we’ve avoided that visceral nastiness,” Zellner said last week. “And that’s what I ran on – we had to get rid of the lifelong grudges.”
While Zellner now represents continuity among Dems, Erie County Republicans are in for change. At this point it remains unclear whether change will be contentious or peaceful, but change is coming.
That’s because the Nick Langworthy Era is expected to soon end as the current state GOP chairman prepares for a new career as representative of the 23rd Congressional District (though he must first dispatch Democrat Max Della Pia in November). Party stalwart Karl Simmeth has served as county chairman since 2019, but Langworthy still wields real influence. Simmeth acknowledged last week he will not run again, pointing to a three-year run he considers a success, and looking forward to spending time in Florida.
Now Michael Kracker, another party stalwart, is viewed as the favorite. Senior adviser to State Senate Majority Leader Rob Ortt of North Tonawanda, Kracker has written county committee members asking for support and told the Politics Column he hopes to soon lead upstate New York’s largest and most influential party organization.
“The ultimate goal is to elect Republicans to countywide offices in 2023,” he said, “and that means rebuilding the committee infrastructure. I believe we can re-energize the party.”
Kracker, 34, has grown up in Republican politics, starting as an intern to former Rep. Tom Reynolds, working as executive director of the county party, campaign manager and deputy chief of staff to former Rep. Chris Collins, and executive director of the Unshackle Upstate business group before moving to Ortt’s office (where he expects to remain).
But Kracker may have to contend with Mitch Martin, a chief in the Erie County Sheriff’s Office after he helped John Garcia buck county leaders and win a primary and general election for sheriff last year. He has also worked on campaigns for a host of other Republicans, including Sen. Pat Gallivan. A former Cheektowaga GOP chairman who now leads Boston Republicans, the 52-year-old Martin has long been viewed in some party quarters as a future county leader, though he has not yet officially declared.
“I think I have the skill to identify good candidates and win,” he said. “Last year, John (Garcia) was not the party choice but he won, and they lost the comptroller’s race. The party is in decline.
“I think I can win if there’s a secret ballot,” he added, “but if there isn’t, too many people might feel concerned about the choice of those in power.”
Republicans don’t go through unpleasant exercises like a contested election for chairman. It’s usually no muss, no fuss. But this fall it might be the GOP instead of those fightin’, scrappin’ Democrats who provide the fall’s best political theater.
