Joseph F. Crangle (June 12, 1932 – January 12, 2021) was a lawyer and political boss in Erie County, New York. Crangle served overlapping terms as chair of the Erie County Democratic Committee from 1965 to 1988 and chair of the New York State Democratic Committee from 1971 to 1974. [1] [2]
Crangle was the longest-serving chairman of the Erie County Democratic Committee, the political party and political machine that during his term came to dominate the politics of Buffalo, New York and its suburbs. He was a key backer of Frank A. Sedita as mayor and opponent of James D. Griffin. [3]
Anthony Masiello recalled getting his start in politics through Crangle. [4]
Wesley Barthelmes, press secretary to Robert F. Kennedy, recalled Crangle and his predecessor Erie County's Peter Crotty as among the few Democratic insiders to support Robert F. Kennedy's run in the 1964 United States Senate election in New York. Crangle later served on RFK's 1968 Presidential campaign in Michigan. [5] [6]
In 1976, Crangle served as the chairman of for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan's campaign. [7]
He joined Ted Kennedy's presidential campaign against Jimmy Carter. [8]
James Lane Buckley is an American retired jurist, politician, civil servant, attorney, businessman, and author, and the Senior Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Nominated by President Ronald Reagan, he previously served as a United States Senator from New York as a member of both the Republican Party and the Conservative Party of New York from 1971 to 1977. He was also the Republican nominee in the 1980 Connecticut Senate race, but was defeated by Democrat Chris Dodd.
The 1964 United States Senate elections coincided with the election of President Lyndon B. Johnson by an overwhelming majority, to a full term. His Democratic Party picked up a net two seats from the Republicans. As of 2022, this was the last time either party has had a two-thirds majority in the Senate, which would have hypothetically allowed the Senate Democrats to override a veto, propose constitutional amendments, convict and expel certain officials, or invoke cloture without any votes from Senate Republicans. In practice, however, internal divisions effectively prevented the Democrats from doing so. The Senate election coincided with Democratic gains in the House in the same year.
James Donald "Jimmy" Griffin was an American politician who served in the New York State Senate and then for 16 years as the Mayor of Buffalo, New York (1978–93). He later returned to public life serving as a member of the Buffalo Common Council.
James Michael Mead was an American politician from New York. A Democrat, among the offices in which he served was member of the Erie County Board of Supervisors (1914-1915), New York State Assembly (1915-1918), United States House of Representatives (1919-1938), and United States Senate (1938-1947).
Byron William Brown II is an American politician who is the current mayor of Buffalo, New York. He has served as Buffalo's 62nd mayor since January 2006, the City's first African-American mayor and longest serving mayor. He previously served Western New York as a member of the New York State Senate and Buffalo Common Council. He was the first African-American politician elected to the New York State Senate to represent a district outside New York City and the first member of any minority race to represent a majority white New York State Senate district.
Dennis T. Gorski was an American politician in New York and a Marine. A resident of Cheektowaga, New York, Gorski served as County Executive of Erie County, New York, which includes Buffalo and many of its suburbs. He was the first Democrat-elected Erie County Executive and the first Erie County Executive elected to three four-year terms. Gorski was an Erie County Legislator and a member of the New York State Assembly prior to three-term service as county executive. During his second term as County Executive, he ran for Congress to succeed Democrat Henry Nowak, but he was defeated in the general election by Republican Jack Quinn.
Arthur O. Eve is a retired American politician who served as a Democratic member of the New York State Assembly (1967–2002) and Deputy Speaker of the Assembly (1979–2002) representing districts in Buffalo, New York. He was the first Dominican-American elected to public office in the United States, and the first African American to win a Buffalo mayoral Democratic primary but was defeated in the following mayoral election.
Buffalo, New York's government is run by a democratically elected mayor and council of nine members.
The New York State Democratic Committee is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of New York. Its headquarters are in Manhattan, and it has an office in Albany.
Peter Shapiro is a retired financial services executive, former member of the Board of Directors of New Israel Fund and former politician from New Jersey. He was the youngest person ever elected to the New Jersey General Assembly and went on to serve as Essex County Executive and as the Democratic nominee for Governor of New Jersey in 1985 against incumbent Thomas Kean.
The United States Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management was a select committee created by the United States Senate on January 30, 1957, and dissolved on March 31, 1960. The select committee was directed to study the extent of criminal or other improper practices in the field of labor-management relations or in groups of employees or employers, and to suggest changes in the laws of the United States that would provide protection against such practices or activities. It conducted 253 active investigations, served 8,000 subpoenas for witnesses and documents, held 270 days of hearings, took testimony from 1,526 witnesses, and compiled almost 150,000 pages of testimony. At the peak of its activity in 1958, 104 persons worked for the committee. The select committee's work led directly to the enactment of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act on September 14, 1959.
Gerald Steven Pigeon, usually cited in newspaper accounts as Steve Pigeon, is a Democratic politician from Western New York. A controversial figure in contemporary Western New York politics, Pigeon was Erie County Democratic Chairman from 1996 to 2002, parlaying his clout to become an advisor to State Senator Pedro Espada Jr., Tom Golisano, and Clare Bronfman of NXIVM. He is a convict serving concurrent sentences for federal and state corruption charges to which he has confessed. He is also accused of sexual assault of a child, which he denies.
Kathleen Courtney Hochul is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 57th governor of New York since August 24, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she is New York's first female governor, as well as the first governor from upstate New York since the 1930s.
Timothy M. Kennedy is an American politician from New York. He is currently a Democratic member of the New York State Senate, representing the 63rd District since January 2013. He previously represented the 58th District from 2011 to 2013.
The 2013 election for Mayor of Buffalo, New York took place on November 5, 2013. Two-term incumbent Democrat Byron Brown won reelection, defeating Republican Sergio Rodriguez.
The 2005 Buffalo Mayoral Election took place on November 8, 2005. After incumbent Anthony M. Masiello, a Democrat, announced on April 29, 2005 that he would not seek a fourth term as mayor, a field of several Democratic candidates emerged, from which New York State Senator Byron Brown emerged victorious in the primary election. In the general election, Brown went on to defeat Republican challenger Kevin Helfer, former member of the Buffalo Common Council for the University District, as well as two minor-party candidates. Buffalo's 2005 mayoral election is notable as the first in the city to be won by an African-American candidate.
Richard Carl Leone was an American Democratic Party politician who served as New Jersey State Treasurer from 1974 to 1977 and as Chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from 1990 to 1994. Leone also worked for Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert F. Kennedy and Edmund Muskie.
Nicholas A. Langworthy is an American politician serving as chair of the New York State Republican Committee. Langworthy was named chair of the Committee in July 2019 after having chaired the Erie County, New York Republican Committee since 2010. He is the youngest state chairman in party history. He is a candidate in the 2022 House of Representatives election.
The 2021 Buffalo mayoral election was held on November 2, 2021. Democratic Mayor Byron Brown won his fifth-term in office as a write-in candidate. Brown's victory marked the first time since 1985 that Buffalo did not elect the Democratic nominee for mayor.
The Buffalo mayoral election of 1977 took place in Buffalo, New York, USA, on November 8, 1977, and resulted in the election of Jimmy Griffin to his first term as mayor.