Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren has effectively clinched the nomination of the Monroe County Democratic Committee. That happened following a meeting of the 27th Legislative District on Wednesday night.
She won enough votes in the last committee vote to put her ahead of Democrats James Sheppard and Rachel Barnhart.
The official nomination won’t happen until the Democratic Party Convention on May 18th.
In a statement issued by Warren she said that many political pundits believed “the deck was stacked against her,” and Warren, who is running for a second term, says that individual members of city committee “stood up for what was right and stood with me even when party bosses tried to push a different outcome.”
Sheppard, a Monroe County legislator and former city police chief says he respects the process and congratulates Warren, but now looks forward to taking his message to the streets of Rochester. Sheppard says that no Democrat endorsed by the Democratic Party has gone on to win a Democratic Mayoral Primary in nearly three decades.
Barnhart, a former TV journalist who also ran unsuccessfully for NYS Assembly last fall calls the designation process “the ultimate insider game, “ and says it’s a battle of two party factions who have been at odds for decades. She says since Warren is the incumbent, it would have been a huge repudiation for her if she didn’t get the nomination.
Besides Barnhart and Sheppard, other candidates include the Green Party’s Alex White, who has also sought Democratic backing, Republican Tony Micciche and independent candidate Lori Thomas.
