Democrat and current Mayor Eddie Sundquist previously announced he is seeking re-election for a second term with Republican Council Member at Large Kim Ecklund recently announcing she will be running against him for the seat.

The City Democratic Committee has endorsed local attorney John I. LaMancuso to run for City Court Judge. His father, John L. LaMancuso, has held that position for 29 years. Republicans have not endorsed a candidate for that race.

Democratic endorsements for City Council At Large include Isaiah Rashad II and returning candidate Alyssa Porter. Republicans have endorsed incumbents Jeff Russell and Randy Daversa; as well as Russ Bonfiglio.

Republican Ward 1 Council member Brent Sheldon and Ward 2 Council member and Council President Tony Dolce are running unopposed.

Ward 3 Democratic Incumbent Regina Brackman will again face Republican Robert Reedy. That race in 2021 was determined by three absentee ballots.

Democratic incumbent Marie Carrubba has been endorsed again to represents Ward 4 and will face Republican Joe Paterniti.

Republican Incumbent Bill Reynolds will face Democrat Kaycee Colburn for Ward 5 and Republican Incumbent Andrew Faulkner will be running against former Council Member at Large Vanessa Weinert in Ward 6.

For the County Legislature endorsements, Democratic incumbent Billy Torres and Republican Phillip Landy have been endorsed for District 9.

Republican incumbent Jamie Gustafson will face newcomer Democrat Julie Jackson-Forsberg for District 10.

Republican incumbent Dave Wilfong is unopposed for District 11.

District 12 endorsements include Republican Elisabeth Rankin against former Democratic County Legislator and former County Attorney Fred Larson.

Democratic Incumbent Tom Nelson will face Republican Joseph Tickle for District 13.

Candidate petitioning to get on the election ballot begins tomorrow, February 28 and ends April 6. Any primaries necessary will be held on Tuesday, June 22, 2023.

Kim Ecklund

The City Republican Committee has unanimously nominated Kim Ecklund to run for Mayor of Jamestown.

Ecklund will face Democrat and current Mayor Eddie Sundquist who announced his re-election campaign in early January.

Ecklund, who has served as a City Council Member at Large since 2004, said “it’s time,” “There are some things I feel I can make a difference in that I feel it’s time for me to step forward and at least try to do that.”

Ecklund said she plans to stay true to who she is, “Obviously, very important to me is fiduciary responsibility and obviously keeping the city in a fiscally responsible place. I’ve been on every avenue of City Council but some things obviously, public safety is very important, homeowners, and tax base, and businesses along with the quality of life issues that we have here.”

Ecklund has a multi-decade career in finance at eSolutions Furniture, formerly known as Bush Industries, in addition to her nearly 20 years in city government.

She has served on the City Council’s Public Works and Finance committees and has been the Chair of the Finance Committee for over three years. Ecklund currently serves on the Jamestown Local Development Corporation and the Parks and Recreation Commission and previously served on the Riverfront Management Commission, the Joint Task Force on Efficiency and Cost Reduction, as well as other ad hoc committees.

She is married to Keith Ecklund, a former Jamestown Firefighter. She has been a mentor through Chautauqua Striders for 18 years and also is the Vice President of the Jamestown Babe Ruth World Series Board of Directors.

She thanked the Republican Committee for their support and said she expects to make a more formal announcement about her campaign in the coming weeks.

Brent Sheldon

The head of the Jamestown Republican Committee said he was “shocked” to hear the news Tom Reed was stepping down.

Jamestown City Council member and City GOP chairman Brent Sheldon said it was sad and disappointing to find out Reed would be leaving office sooner than expected, “Pretty close to Tom Reed. Good friends with him, I would say. I was shocked by the news that he was resigning and not going to be able to finish out his term which he said he would do. He had announced he wasn’t going to be running so he hadn’t circulated petitions to continue serving after the end of this year so it’s sad and disappointing that he won’t be there anymore.”

Sheldon also said he’s not certain now long the area will be without a representative in Washington, but feels there will be someone in place representing the current 23rd district prior to the November general elections, “It’s a sad situation that we won’t have a representative there. It is possible that the Governor will call a special election to fill the term through the end of the year that could be held on the primary date but the Congressional primaries have been pushed to August according to the judge so, I don’t know. A lot of unknowns at this point I guess.”

Sheldon added that he helped to circulate petitions for Claudia Tenney to get her name on the ballot under the district boundaries that were eventually declared unconstitutional by the court. He said until all candidates are known for a special election, he’ll hold off throwing his support behind anyone at the moment.

Jamestown City Council Members Take Oath of Office (1/3/2022)

Two new council members were sworn in at Jamestown City Council‘s organizational meeting Monday night.

The new representatives are At Large Council Member Randy Daversa and Ward 6 Council member Andrew Faulkner.

A representative for Ward 5 still has yet to be sworn into office. City Republican Committee Chairman Brent Sheldon said while Grant Olson was elected in November to the seat, he has indicated he will not be signing his oath of office. He said Olson has 5 days from January 1 to sign that and if he doesn’t, he vacates the seat, “So at that point we will be talking with prospective Republicans in the 5th Ward as Grant Olson was a Republican when he was elected this term and two years ago as well. To fill the seat, we will give that name to the Mayor. The Mayor will submit that to the Council. The Council will approve that. We’re hopeful to do that by the end of January.”

Council members unanimously endorsed and re-elected Ward 2 Council Member Tony Dolce as Council President. Dolce said there will be new challenges for Council to work on these next two years, “Obviously, the allocation of the American Rescue Plan funds – we have $28 million and we just started allocating that. And we’re really going to need to roll up our sleeves and get aggressive on some of the different projects: economic development, neighborhood initiatives, public safety issues and so forth. So that’s probably the first and foremost thing.”

Dolce said he hopes to restart a pre-Pandemic initiative to have more public forums and Council meetings at locations outside City Hall in order to be more hands on with the public. He also said another goal is to formulate a plan to deal with the city’s deer population.

Council tabled a list of appointments by Mayor Eddie Sundquist to various boards and commissions. These included new appointments to the Board of Public Utilities board as well as numerous reappointments. The appointments are expected to be acted on at the January 31 voting session.

The endorsed candidates for Jamestown City Council are all five incumbents: Brent Sheldon (Ward 1 and also the committee chairman), Tony Dolce (W2), Grant Olson, (W5), Kimberly Ecklund (At Large), and Jeffrey Russell (At Large).

Newcomers include: Robert Reedy (W3), owner of Elite Kreations and an Air Force veteran; Andrew Faulkner (W6), a journeyman electrician employed by IBEW Local 106; and Randall Daversa (At Large), retired equipment operator and supervisor for the N.Y.S.D.O.T.

Also returning to the ballot is Richard Elardo (W4), employed by the Jamestown Housing Authority, Classic Brass and operator of the family owned Crescent Inn. Elardo has also ran for the Ward 4 seat in previous elections as well.

• RELATED: Jamestown City Democrats Announce 2021 Local Candidates

The Republicans currently control the Jamestown City Council and will need five victories to maintain control.

“The 2019 election gave a Republicans a majority on City Council a majority for the first time in many years and we hope to build on that in this year’s election with new and fresh ideas”, Sheldon stated, adding, ““We are excited by our full slate of Republican candidates for Jamestown City Council for the first time in over 20 years.”

The city Republican committee also endorsed its Chautauqua County Legislature candidates. They include incumbents Kenneth Lawton, (District 10) and Elisabeth Rankin (District 12). Former Republican legislator David Wilfong (District 11) also makes a return to the ballot this year, after losing his seat in 2019, when he chose not to run for reelection and instead ran an unsuccessful campaign for mayor of Jamestown.  It appears the GOP does not have a candidate for Legislature District 9, which will be an open seat this year after long-time legislator and Democrat Chuck Nazzaro announced he would not be seeking reelection. Instead, the Democrats will have political newcomer Billy Torres on the ballot.

These candidates are only the endorsed candidates by the City Republican Committee. Should any other eligible residents choose to challenge any of the candidates in a party primary, it will take place on Tuesday, June 22.

Jamestown City Councilman Tony Dolce (R-Ward 2)

JAMESTOWN – Long-time Jamestown city councilman Tony Dolce (R-Ward 2) will be the next president of the Jamestown City Council.

On Monday afternoon Jamestown Republican Committee chairman and fellow city councilman Brent Sheldon (R-Ward 1) announced that the newly elected Republican majority of city council members met recently and determined that Dolce will be nominated and elected as the next council president.

Sheldon said that Dolce is the longest serving councilman in Jamestown history and has by far the most experience of any council person. He’s also acted as acting council president many times when the Council President was unable to be at a meeting.

As part of his duty as council president, Dolce will choose the chairs for each of the city council’s four standing committees and also make committee assignments.

The members of the city council beginning on Jan. 1 will be Dolce and Sheldon, along with Victoria James (D-Ward 3), Marie Carrubba (D-Ward 4), Grant Olson (R-Ward 5), Tom Nelson (D-Ward 6), Kim Ecklund (R-At Large), Tamu Graham-Reinhardt (D-At Large), and Jeff Russell (R-At Large).

The official election by the council members for the panel’s next president will take place on Jan. 1 at the first meeting of the new city council and the inauguration of mayor-elect Eddie Sundquist  at Jamestown Community College’s Scharmann Theater.

David Wilfong

JAMESTOWN – David Wilfong is the winner of Tuesday’s Republican Primary for mayor of Jamestown, defeating opponent Andrew Liuzzo with an election night final of 480 to 271. An addition 61 absentee ballots were left to be counted.

Wilfong currently is in his third term in the Chautauqua County Legislature, representing Jamestown out of District 11. He is also the chairman of the Chautauqua County Republican Committee. He was the endorsed candidate for mayor by the Jamestown Republican Party Committee.  But Liuzzo – a first term City Councilman at large – secured enough signatures on a petition to force the Primary on Tuesday.

“Thank all of you who supported my campaign. America is great because we get to choose. Now the residents will decide in November who will lead the city the next four years. This process has been an honor and I look forward to finishing my term as your councilman at large,” Liuzzo said in a statement on his Facebook page following the announced results.

Of the roughly 3800 registered Republican who were eligible to vote, 751 turned out for the election. In addition to those voters, 61 absentee ballots are also left to be counted. That makes the voter turnout for the GOP mayoral primary at 21% – about double what a local primary typically sees, according to Board of Elections commissioner Norm Green.

Wilfong will go on to face the endorsed Democratic candidate Eddie Sundquist in the November General Election to be the city’s next mayor. The race for the open seat comes after Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi announced in February he was not going to run for a fifth consecutive term in office.

Sundquist has also received the endorsements from the Independence and Working Families parties. Wilfong is also the endorsed candidate for the Conservative Party.

he General Election will be held on November 5th.

Meanwhile in the city’s only other Republican primary race, Jamestown Ward 2 City Councilman Tony Dolce defeated challenger Raven Mason Thompson, 119 to 34.

George Borrello (left) and Curt Crandall

The Chautauqua County Board of Elections says a total of 25,500 Republican voters are eligible to vote in today’s Primary for the 57th NYS Senate District – with candidates George Borrello, the current Chautauqua County executive, and Curt Crandall, the chair of the Allegany County Legislature, squaring off.

The Senate district includes Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany and part of Livingston Counties. There are 64,000 active Republican voters eligible to vote across the district.

Borrello was elected Chautauqua County executive in 2017 after spending eight years in the Chautauqua County Legislature, representing his home area of Hanover. Crandall is a long-time member member of the Allegany County Legislature and has served as its chair for the past 14 years.

Sen. Cathy Young was reelected to office in November 2018, but when she announced she was resigning from her seat in late February of this year, it meant that a special election would have to take place to fill that seat. As a result, the Republican party chairs for each of the four counties that comprise the 57th district (Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany, Livingston) met in early March to select their candidate and it was Borrello, with only the Republican Party chair from Allegany County selecting Crandall.

When Gov. Andrew Cuomo did not set a special election date to fill the vacated seat, the special election date was set for this coming November’s general election. That gave Crandall an opportunity to challenge Borrello’s endorsement and force a primary.

Borrello is also the endorsed candidate for the Conservative Party.

• LISTEN: WRFA INTERVIEWS GEORGE BORELLO AND CURT CRANDALL

Andrew Liuzzo (left) and David Wilfong

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES FOR JAMESTOWN MAYOR

An estimated 3800 Republicans will be choosing their candidate for mayor to appear on the ballot for the November general election.

The two candidates who will appear on today’s republican party ballot are City Councilman at Large Andrew Liuzzo and Chautauqua County Legislator David Wilfong. Liuzzo was first elected to the Jamestown City Council in the 2017 election, while Wilfong was first elected to the County Legislature in 2013. He’s also the current chair of the Chautauqua County Republican Committee.

In February, Wilfong became the endorsed candidate of the Jamestown Republican Committee. But Liuzzo was able to force a primary by collecting an overwhelming number of petition signatures from registered Republicans living within the city.

Wilfong is also the endorsed candidate for the Conservative Party.

• LISTEN: WRFA INTERVIEWS ANDREW LIUZZO AND DAVID WILFONG

Tony Dolce and Raven Mason Thompson

CANDIDATES FOR CITY COUNCIL – WARD 2

There’s also a Republican primary for Jamestown City Council Ward 2 – with incumbent Tony Dolce being challenged by newcomer Raven Mason Thompson.

Dolce is the city Republican committee’s endorsed candidate, having served on the city council since 1999. This is Mason Thompson’s first attempt at running for public office.

• LISTEN: WRFA INTERVIEWS TONY DOLCE AND RAVEN MASON THOMPSON

OTHER LOCAL PRIMARIES

Other local primaries for the Republican Party include Carroll Town Supervisor and Town Clerk, Charlotte Town Council (Vote for 2), and Kiantone Town Supervisor. Also, Republicans have County Legislature primaries in Legislative District 1 in Dunkirk and Legislative District 18, covering the Mayville area, along with the towns of Mina and Findley Lake.

There are no primaries scheduled for the Democrats in Chautauqua County. However, a few third party primaries will be taking place in other areas of the county outside of Jamestown.

Polls are open Noon to 9 p.m.

Election officials say the busiest times to avoid will be Noon to 1 p.m. and in the evening during the dinner hour. All county poll sites will be open.

Results for all races will be posted online tonight at the website VoteChautauqua.com for local races and at Elections.NY.gov for 57th Senate district-wide results.

David Wilfong and Andrew Liuzzo

JAMESTOWN – The Republican candidates for mayor in the 2019 Election will appear at two separate events in the coming days to help raise awareness of and gain support for their campaign.

On Saturday morning, March 23, Candidate for mayor Andrew Liuzzo will host a campaign fundraiser and meet-and-greet breakfast from 9 a.m. to noon at Harvest Time Café in downtown Jamestown (108 W. Third Street in the Hotel Jamestown building).

Liuzzo is calling the event the “Better Days are Coming” campaign fundraiser, which will give Liuzzo the opportunity to meet city residents and talk about issues, as well as accept contributions toward his mayoral run. Breakfast will be provided.

Liuzzo’s campaign says that donations will be appreciated but are not necessary for those wishing to attend.

Liuzzo, who is currently serving on the Jamestown City Council (at Large), is one of two candidates seeking the Republican Party nomination for mayor in the 2019 General Election. The other Republican candidate is current Chautauqua County Legislator David Wilfong, who’s received the endorsement of the Jamestown Republican Committee. If both Liuzzo and Wilfong are able to collect enough signatures from registered Republicans in the city then they will square off in a city-wide primary on June 25.

• RELATED: WRFA Interview with mayoral candidate Andrew Liuzzo
• RELATED: WRFA Interview with mayoral candidate David Wilfong

Meanwhile, a second political event organized by the City Republican Committee is scheduled for Tuesday, March 26 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Sauce Restaurant in downtown Jamestown (306 N. Main Street).

The rally and meet-and-greet will feature Wilfong along with other endorsed Republican candidates for city council and county legislature, as well as an appearance by County Executive George Borrello, who is making a push for the recently vacated 57th State Senate District seat.

Organizers say the event is open to Jamestown Republicans, Conservatives and Libertarians in good standing, who will have an opportunity to interact and ask candidates questions. Food will be provided as well as a cash bar. Donations will be accepted at the door.

Endorsed candidates are:

• Mayor and current County Legislator David Wilfong
• Ward 1 Councilman Brent Sheldon
• Ward 2 Councilman Anthony Dolce
• Ward 4 Council candidate Brittnay Spry
• Ward 5 Council Candidate Grant Olson
• At large Councilwoman Kimberly Ecklund
• At Large Council Candidates Gregory Lindquist
• At Large Council Candidates Jeffrey Russell
• District 10 Legislator Paul “PJ” Wendell, Jr.
• District 12 County Legislator Elisabeth Rankin
• State Senate Candidate and Current County Executive George Borrello

Eddie Sundquist

JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown Attorney who plans to run for Mayor in November on the Democratic ticket will kick off his campaign during a rally Friday afternoon in downtown Jamestown.

Last month Mayor Sam Teresi (D) announced he wasn’t going to seek a sixth term in office and the Jamestown Democratic Committee tapped local attorney Eddie Sundquist as the endorsed candidate for mayor.

WRFA had Sundquist in the studio at the end of February to learn more about his campaign and why he’s seeking the top executive post in the city.

“I grew up in Jamestown. I came back here as an attorney after going off to school. I ended up wanting to come back and practice here and have been doing so. For me Jamestown is my home and I’m excited to not only be back but to bring a positive change to Jamestown. Be able to not only run for mayor but to bring decisive leadership to the table. We’ve got a strong foundation here in the city and we can really grow by bringing young professionals back, by redeveloping what we’ve got here in this area, and really focusing on partnerships and community,” Sundquist said.

Sundquist also said he’s also well aware of the challenges that come with running the city, and at the top of that list is balancing the annual budget.

“Right now we receive a lot of state aid and that’s not something that’s guaranteed. We need to make sure we are checking out what revenue streams we have and what we’re spending to make sure it works. The big challenge is going to be ‘Can it be balanced?’ and I think it can. But until we start to engage the community and the people here in trying to find creative solutions, we’re not going to be much different than we are right now,” Sundquist said.

This isn’t Sundquists first attempt at running for public office. In 2018 he made a bid for the Democratic Nomination for Congress to run against Tom Reed but came up short in the primary. But Sundquist said he learned a lot from that campaign and plans to put that toward his campaign for mayor.

Sundquist will likely be unchallenged for the Democratic nomination, which means he will be able to focus most of his attention on the November Election. The same can’t be said for the Republican party, where two individuals are vying for the party nomination and will likely square off in a June Primary. They are the Jamestown Republican Committee’s endorsed candidate – county legislator David Wilfong, along with first-term city coucilman at large Andrew Liuzzo.

Back to Sundquist, he and other Democrats running for city office are inviting the public to Friday’s rally in downtown Jamestown, which will be held at the Doubletree by Hilton hotel on 4th street starting at 5:30 p.m.