Jonathan Rivera trounced Erie County Democratic party boss Jeremy Zellner in a state Senate primary race. Adam Bojak handily beat Zellner’s endorsed candidate in an Assembly contest. The results leave the party leadership at sea.
News and analysis by Geoff Kelly, Investigative Post’s political reporter
Assembly Member Jonathan Rivera’s victory Tuesday in the primary for the 61st District state Senate seat throws Erie County Democrats — already split over who to support for county executive next year — further into turmoil.
With strong backing from organized labor, Rivera walloped Jeremy Zellner, chair of the Erie County Democratic Committee, by nearly 10 percentage points.
Buffalo attorney Adam Bojak, a democratic socialist also backed by labor unions, scored an even more lopsided victory over Karen Hoak of Hamburg, the party’s endorsed candidate, in a three-way primary to succeed Rivera in the 149th District Assembly seat. Bojak won by more than 16 percent.
The two victories constitute “an earthquake,” Rivera’s father, Niagara District Council Member David Rivera told Investigative Post at the campaigns’ shared watch party on Buffalo’s West Side, as the outcome began to appear inevitable.
Jonathan Rivera and Adam Bojak on election night. Photo: Geoff Kelly.
Several elected and Democratic party officials on election night and the morning after told Investigative Post — none willing to be quoted by name — that the loss jeopardizes Zellner’s future at the helm of the party. Some suggested Zellner would be asked not to run for another term as chair when Democratic committee members meet in September to elect new officers.
Zellner did not respond to a request for comment.
Fillmore District Council Member Mitch Nowakowski, a party vice chair, said it was important that the party put this bruising primary season behind it and unify in advance of next year’s race for county executive.
That race has already opened a fissure between Democratic leaders. Zellner and Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz — who will not seek a fifth term — support Lisa Chimera, Poloncarz’s deputy. Others are backing Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick. Assembly Member Patrick Burke is considering a run, too.
“Next year, we will have an open county executive seat for the first time in 16 years,” Nowakowski said. “In order to be successful in that race, a large unified Democratic apparatus needs to be solidified and we need to get to work on that now.”
Cheektowaga Town Supervisor Brian Nowak has maintained a detente with Democratic Party leadership, while sometimes bucking its dictates. On election day he campaigned for Bojak, a fellow democratic socialist.
“Things need to be different,” he told Investigative Post Wednesday morning, when asked about Zellner’s future, but declined to elaborate.
Burke, who is facing a tough general election opponent in Republican West Seneca Town Supervisor Gary Dickson, also declined to speculate about Zellner’s future as chair. But he did offer an explanation for the margin of Rivera’s win.
“People are angry and they feel like they don’t have a voice,” Burke said. “Couple that with the organizing power of labor and last night doesn’t look like much of a surprise.”
On Tuesday night, union officials led the crowd at the Tabernacle, at the corner of Grant and West Ferry streets, in thunderous, celebratory chants.
Rivera declared his candidacy last October. Zellner officially entered the race only after Ryan won, though he and Rivera both had been campaigning behind the scenes for months.
Zellner marshaled all his political capital as party chair to win designation as the party’s candidate in February’s special election to fill the seat left vacant by Sean Ryan when he became Buffalo mayor.
Zellner out-raised and out-spent Rivera by a huge margin. As of last week, Rivera had spent about $473,000. Zellner had spent more than $1.3 million — a figure that includes $753,000 he spent to beat his Republican opponent, Dan Gagliardo, in the special election.
In all, the candidates spent $2 million in pursuit of the seat. About 60 percent of that money — $1.2 million — was public matching funds, for which both candidates qualified. On election day Rivera — who walked away from a safe Assembly seat to challenge Zellner — told Investigative Post his campaign would not have been possible without the public match.
“It would have been very difficult to raise money without it, going against the county chair,” he said.
Zellner had the endorsement of 40 elected officials, from Gov. Kathy Hochul and Poloncarz on down to town board members. He narrowly led in the absentee and early vote, but Rivera began to pull ahead soon after election day votes began to be added to the tally.
By the time half the returns had been counted, Rivera was in the lead for good. He won handily on Buffalo’s West Side, his home base. He edged out Zellner in the Town of Tonawanda. Zellner won in Grand Island, Amherst and the City of Tonawanda, where he lives.
Turnout was low. Less than 20 percent of the district’s Democrats voted.
There is no Republican or Conservative Party candidate in the race, which means Rivera’s election in November is essentially guaranteed. Zellner will serve as senator until the end of the year.
Adam Bojak. Photo: Geoff Kelly.
Meanwhile, a flood of online gambling money was not enough to help Karen Hoak, the endorsed Democrat in the 149th Assembly District race.
Since mid-April, New York Future — an independent expenditure committee bankrolled by online sports gambling giants FanDuel and DraftKings — spent more than $625,000 in support of Hoak. The PAC’s initial spending in the race produced positive ads touting Hoak’s credentials as a public servant. They turned negative in the last few days before the election, attacking Bojak for accepting a $3,000 contribution from a California billionaire.
That apparently didn’t move the needle. Bojak finished with nearly 50 percent of the vote, Hoak with a little over 33. Navy reservist Kevin Deese, a first-time candidate, garnered 17 percent.
Hoak won her hometown of Hamburg and the sliver of Lackawanna that connects the district to Buffalo’s West Side. Bojak won nearly 61 percent of the vote in Buffalo, which accounted for three-quarters of his total.
Turnout was light in the Assembly race, too. A little over 20 percent of Democrats in the district voted. Bojak will face Republican Hamburg Town Council Member Frank Bogulski in November.
Subscribe to our free weekly newsletters
The battle between Rivera and Zellner spilled into Buffalo’s Niagara District, represented on the Common Council by David Rivera, Jonathan’s father.
There, a number of Democratic committee members affiliated with the Riveras were challenged by a slate of candidates organized by Alex Burgos, a party operative affiliated with Zellner and party headquarters. Burgos briefly was a candidate for the 149th Assembly District seat, then dropped out and endorsed Hoak.
A spokesperson for Zellner in April said the party chair played “no role” in those committee races.
Control of the committee is important because David Rivera is expected to retire rather than seek reelection next year, creating an open race for the Niagara District Council seat for the first time in more than two decades. The committee members will decide who has the party’s endorsement.
Burgos is among the aspirants to that seat, but Tuesday did not go well for his slate. Across seven West Side election districts, Burgos’s slate won one of 14 committee seats.
posted 3 hours ago – June 24, 2026