I wrote a few days ago about how a sweet swan song was cueing up for ‘Defund the Police’ radicals who were hoping that Election Day results in select Democrat-run cities like Minneapolis and Buffalo would shift momentum in their direction after a string of stinging rejections and setbacks over the last year.
Fortunately, the song was even more beautiful than I anticipated as not only did Minneapolis outright reject the city council’s efforts to “reimagine” its police force, but the citizens of Buffalo, too, showed the movement the door in a mayoral race that had a rather wild run-up and finish.
The two candidates were Democratic socialist India Walton and Democrat Mayor Byron W. Brown, the latter of who the New York Times described as a “centrist.” You may be wondering how is it that two Democrats were competing against each other in the general election. Walton defeated Brown in June’s Democratic primary. Brown has served four terms in office.
Brown was unhappy with the outcome and declared himself a “write-in” candidate. He lost an attempt to add his name to the general election ballot.
The race got more intense when big-name Democrats joined the fray, such as fellow Democratic socialists Rep. Alexandria OcasioCortez, and Senator Bernie Sanders, who were among many nationally recognized Democrats, like Sen. Because Walton was pro-defunding of the police, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer supported her. AOC even visited Buffalo in the final weeks to campaign on Walton’s behalf.
But as it turned out, Brown’s long history with the city as well as his relentless painting of Walton as too radical for even liberal Buffalo appears to have won the day. Though she has not officially conceded, Walton essentially said in a statement posted to Twitter earlier that though there were “tens of thousands” of votes still to be counted that the writing was on the wall for her campaign:
“Tens of thousands of write-in and absentee ballots have yet to be tabulated, and we believe that democracy requires that every vote be counted, and that any improprieties that occurred be brought to light,” Walton said in a Wednesday afternoon statement. “However, while we anticipate that the margins will narrow, it seems unlikely that we will end up with enough votes to inaugurate a Walton administration in January.”
According to Business Insider, by today “Walton had received 41% of the votes cast and counted while write-in candidates received 59% of the total votes cast, the vast majority of which are likely to go to Brown.” They also noted that New York law stipulates that write-in votes can’t be tabulated until 10 days after the election.
In addition to Minneapolis voters rejecting “reimagining” the police force and Walton’s apparent loss to Brown in Buffalo, New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Eric Adams easily won his race on Tuesday. Adams, a former police officer who says he faced police brutality as a teenager, publicly opposed and criticized the Defund the Police movement, characterizing it as a movement mostly led “by young white professionals.”
“When you start defunding, hey, the cop is no longer on your corner,” Adams said in a New York Magazine interview back in April. “That cop is no longer in your lobby. This cop won’t be outside waiting for you to leave the Broadway production. I’ve never seen a crowd chanting for less police officers. Never.”
What are you waiting for? You might be surprised to learn that even in Democrat enclaves such as Minneapolis, Buffalo and New York City the sanity sometimes prevails.
FlashbackTerry McAuliffe Loses it When Virginia Sheriff Asks if he Supports the Defunding of Police
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