 So we've been following the mayoral race that's taking place in Buffalo, New York for quite some time on this program And there really shouldn't be anything to talk about at this point. There shouldn't but there is so in this city in Buffalo It's heavily slanted towards the Democratic Party. So if you win the Democratic Party primary, you are essentially Going to win the general election. It's usually a foregone conclusion But that's not necessarily the case here because India Walton defeated the incumbent Democratic Party mayor Byron Brown And he has refused to concede Okay, now you think what's the big deal? He's not conceding. So what she's still gonna win except he's chosen to not concede and run a sore loser right in campaign and when you are the Four-term incumbent mayor with a lot of name recognition and more importantly big money donors on your side. I Think that that right in campaign is something that actually could be competitive which is Frustrating but nonetheless here we are and I want to share a quick clip from an interview that India Walton did with Jen Perelman and Peter Hager and she explains the situation and it's just it's truly truly frustrating So I won the Democratic primary 65% of registered voters in Buffalo are Democrats, right? So you know the Democratic primary traditionally It's assumed you're the presumptive mayor Well the 16-year four-term incumbent didn't concede He started a writing campaign and not only is he doing a writing campaign, but a couple of weeks ago He got a local judge to Rule that our state's Board of elections Deadline to file independent nominating petitions was unconstitutional and put him back on the ballot So we had to appeal that decision went to court We got him off the ballot, but now like all of this Republican money is being flooded into the race There's independent expenditures. They are commercials that are like blatantly lying saying I'm going to lay off a hundred police officers who are all going to be people of color and women a Video surface last night of him saying that I'm going to Allow rapists free sex predators It's just ridiculous But you know, he has so much power and privilege and money that they're able to play these things on a constant loop And you know, the more people hear this stuff the more likely they are to actually believe that it's true so it's it's funny in a way and then in a way it's kind of not because we won fair and square and Really want to bring positive change for working-class people in Buffalo and we're up against this monumental Pretty nasty fight. Yeah. So if this red and campaign works It really speaks to how powerful big money is in the United States. Now. I hope that it doesn't work I hope that he fails obviously because India Walton is the real deal. She actually wants to tackle poverty she actually ran a competitive primary and Byron Brown did nothing. He sat on his ass and he expected himself to just win by default He didn't run a campaign So she won her constituents clearly chose her over him and yet he's refusing to step down So she needs help. It's not like she's automatically going to win because she defeated him in the Democratic Party primary This is basically Part two of the Democratic Party primary except now whoever wins actually does gets worn in as the mayor So she needs a lot of help and there's been leftists who are speaking out But now the most important leftist in the country has chosen to stake his claim here Bernie Sanders and he is going to war for India Walton So he actually sent out a fundraising email on her behalf Encouraging all of his supporters to donate to her campaign and it reads when Democratic Socialist India Walton launched her campaign for mayor of Buffalo, they said she was too radical to win. She said she was bold and visionary They said she had no chance to beat a four-term incumbent then earlier this year She shocked everyone and won a close primary race That was only possible because she showed the political power of an agenda that puts people first much like we did when I first was elected Mayor of Burlington 40 years ago now the establishment incumbent She defeated in the primary is running a right-and-campaign in the general election, which is less than a month away He is being funded by wealthy corporate developers and fighting for an agenda that benefits them quote when we think about socialism You know, we're perfectly fine with socialism for the rich We bail out Wall Street banks and give a billion dollars in tax incentives to one of the richest people in the world And when it comes to providing resources working families need to thrive Socialism becomes scary that may remind you a lot of our campaign But it was India Walton's response to a tax calling her a Democratic Socialist She ran a bold campaign. She talked about the issues people care about and she won now India Walton's opponent may have the support of people like Carl Palladino a Trump supporting Republican real estate developer But India Walton has something her opponent does not and that is the people now There's another part from Bernie's fundraising email that I'm gonna read to you But I just want to pause right there and and talk about how important this is because Bernie Sanders is a fundraising machine He doesn't have this huge contact list of elites millionaires billionaires donors that he can call But he does have this huge email list that the DNC was thirsting for which he never gave to them I'm assuming and that in and of itself can do wonders By sending out this one email He probably helped her raise tens of thousands of dollars and that really makes a difference in a city where every penny is gonna count So if you also want to support India Walton, I will link it to her campaign website down below You could donate a dollar two dollars three dollars twenty seven dollars Whatever you donate helps because if she can actually win and be a successful blueprint for What can be done to improve people's lives then obviously that benefits the Cause of leftists overall Now there's another thing that I want to point out that Bernie Sanders talked about in this email And it was too perfect to not share he writes when progressives lose elections We are all supposed to get in line and rally around the establishment candidate and do everything We can to help them win and we do when progressives win They get primaries like AOC Rashida and Ilhan all did last cycle But much like those three India is going to rally the support of working people and she's going to win as well And so I love that he made this point because I've made the same point as well. It's so frustrating. It's infuriating Democrats will always say after the primary is over. Okay, it's time to vote blue no matter who it's time to get in line behind the person who won But you can see now firsthand that when it happens to somebody that they don't like They're not willing to preach unity. In fact Byron Brown is doing everything he possibly can To divide people and it's truly it's it's interesting that nobody in the establishment has called him out Is Nancy Pelosi or Jim Clyburn gonna come out and denounce Byron Brown? No, of course not because it's unity for thee and not me That's the mantra of the Democratic Party and even like putting aside this this race Back in 2020 when it looked likely that Bernie Sanders was going to become the nominee because he had the most pledged delegates Well, we remember the talks of Joe Biden Elizabeth Warren They all raised their hands when asked if somebody who didn't get the most votes should win possibly Essentially implying is it okay? Or is it permissible or morally right to? use superdelegates to steal the nomination away from someone that we don't like and We saw what happened. Everyone raised their hands Bernie Sanders was the only person who said no the person with the most votes is the person who should become the Democratic Party nominee and We we never saw what happened But I think that we all could have anticipated a lot of corporate Democrats Denouncing Bernie Sanders possibly endorsing Donald Trump over him. I mean, this is all speculative, right? Because we can't Run back and play that out to see what happens in an alternate setting But still it's frustrating that Democrats continue to do this again and again and again And this race with Byron Brown is a microcosm of a bigger issue of the Democratic Party Doing everything they can to stop progressives But prop themselves up and you know, it's because they're they're serving their donors They're operating at the behest of the people who get them into power in the first place But either way it's good to see Bernie Sanders shame them for their hypocrisy and it's good to see him Fun raised for India Walton because even though I think that she has a really great chance of winning I don't want to risk it. I don't want this to be another race where we lose. I mean we we just saw You know a victory taken from us with Nina Turner. We were right there and We lost so I don't want that to be the case again I don't want to take any chances definitely if you can support India Walton because if she is successful This is a win for all of us not just India Walton not just Buffalo. It's a win for all of us