The Chautauqua County Board of Elections’ website at votechautauqua.com provides the information who has filed petitions to run in the November 7 elections.

Some new names are in the filing, including Jamestown Democrat Travis Knight, who has filed to run against Republican incumbent Brent Sheldon for City Council Ward 1.

In County Legislature filings, Democrat Bob Whitney has filed petitions for another rematch against Republican Incumbent Dave Wilfong in Legislative District 11.

Republican incumbent Lisa Vanstrom in District 15 will be facing Democrat Kurt Gustafson.

Marcus Buchanan has filed petitions for the Democrat, Conservative, and Working Families lines to run against Republican Incumbent Kevin Muldowney in District 1.

Democratic incumbent Bob Bankoski will face Republican Dennis Welka in District 2.

Republican incumbent Bob Scudder will have an opponent with Democrat Nevin Ecklund submitting petitions for District 3.

A couple Republican incumbents in the County Legislature appear to have decided not to seek re-election. This includes Legislative District 16 representative John Davis and Legislative District 19 representative John Hemmer.

The candidates who have submitted petitions for those districts include Republican Dalton Anthony in District 16, and Republican Fred Johnson Sr. and Democrat Braiden McElhaney in District 19.

April 10 was the last day to file petitions for the primary.

April 18 is the last day to fill a vacancy after a candidate has declined to run with April 24 being the last day to authorize a substitution after a candidate declines to run.

April 18 is also the first day for folks seeking signatures for independent, or third party, petitions.

Andrew Liuzzo

JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown city councilman who was unable to secure the Republican party’s nomination as a candidate for mayor in June may still appear on the November election ballot.

Members of the Chautauqua County Libertarian Party held their monthly meeting last week in Bemus Point and nominated several additional local candidates for the 2019 general election.

Among those who were chosen was Andrew Liuzzo for mayor of Jamestown. Liuzzo, who is currently a first-term city councilman at large, lost to Chautauqua County legislator David Wilfong in the Republican party primary last month.

While campaigning as a Republican candidate for mayor, Liuzzo had said that he would not be seeking any other party’s endorsement because he didn’t want to split the Republican ticket in November.

“I will not seek or accept another party line nor will I pursue an independent line. If I am not your choice I will not risk splitting the vote to let the opposition party win,” Liuzzo wrote on his Facebook page on May 4.

However, following the Libertarian party’s announced nomination, Liuzzo said he would have to consider the endorsement.

“I’m grateful for the endorsement from the Libertarian party and thankful for the support I’ve received since they made their announcement. I will take the next couple of days to discuss it with my family before I make a decision,” Liuzzo wrote on his Facebook page on July 13.

As of Monday morning he has not yet announced if he planned to accept the nomination.

In addition to Wilfong, the other mayoral candidate is Jamestown attorney Eddie Sundquist. Wilfong is also running under the Conservative party line n the ballot, while Sundquist is running under the Working Families and Independence lines on the ballot.

Current Mayor Sam Teresi, a Democrat, had announced in February he wouldn’t be seeking a sixth term in office.

Raven Mason Thompson

In addition to choosing Liuzzo as its candidate for Jamestown Mayor, the Libertarian party is also selecting Raven Mason Thompson as its only candidate for Jamestown City Council At Large. Mason Thompson had ran against Tony Dolce in the June Republican Primary for City Council Ward 2 – but was defeated.

The Libertarian party is also endorsing Dolce for Ward 2, along with Brittnay Spry for Ward 4. Both those two are also the endorsed Republican candidates for those respective offices.

Other Libertarian Party endorsements that came out of last week’s meeting include:

• Rudy Mueller for Busti Town Supervisor,
• Russell Payne for Carroll Town Supervisor,
• Dennis Welka for Dunkirk City Council Ward 1,
• Daniel Heitzenrater for Ellicott Town Council Ward 4,
• Susan Baldwin for Villenova Town Council,
• John Dudley Robinson for Villenova Town Council,
• Ron Hall for Chautauqua County Legislator District 1,
• Christopher Schaeffer for Chautauqua County Legislator District 3,
• Terry Niebel for Chautauqua County Legislator District 5,
• and Bill Ward for Chautauqua County Legislator District 18.

Previous the party had already nominated Gerrit Cain for Chautauqua County Legislator District 16 and Ryan Sanders for Sherman Village Trustee. Other potential candidates will be voted upon in August.

The local Libertarian party has a deadline of Sept. 1 to announce its candidates for the November election instead of having an April deadline like other established parties. That’s because the Libertarian is a “start-up party” and is given more time to select candidates after receiving at least 50,000 votes during last year’s gubernatorial election.