Decision by Peoples-Stokes triggers party vacancy selection process<\/a><\/p>\nAnyone keeping an eye on Western New York politics in recent months will see that Erie CountyComptroller and Deputy County Executive Lisa Chimera are expected to throw their respective hats into the race.<\/p>\n
Hardwick was forthcoming about his plans for the future when 2 On Your Side spoke to him this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I’m always open to talking about future plans,” Hardwick said. “People think that I’m going to be running for County Executive next year, and I’m not denying that I’m very interested in it, but I’m certainly not prepared to make any formal announcement.”<\/p>\n
2 On Your Side asked Hardwick about running after talking with him about his pitch to the Legislature about using county surplus funds to provide aid the cities of Buffalo, Lackawanna. and Tonawanda.<\/p>\n
Hardwick also pitched the legislature using the funds for road projects and building the rainy day fund.<\/p>\n
2 On Your Side joked with Hardwick that those were three of the four pillars of a campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I’m not going to pretend I’m not thinking about it, because I certainly am,” Hardwick said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As for Deputy County Executive Lisa Chimera, she has been making more media appearances in recent months, not exactly replacing County Executive Mark Poloncarz in those instances, but often times supplementing country representation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now the deputy county executive is planning on hosting a fundraiser in May.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sponsorships for that fundraiser, organized by “Friends of Lisa Chimera,” range between $500 and $2,500.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chimera is not confirming or denying anything right now. But in a statement, the deputy county executive said:<\/p>\n
“As a former Town of Tonawanda Board Member, teacher, Erie County Legislator, and now in my role as Deputy County Executive, I\u2019ve always been committed to public service and working every day to improve the lives of our children, working families, seniors, and all those who call Erie County home.<\/p>\n
While there will be a race for County Executive in 2027, and I\u2019ve had conversations about a potential run to continue the progress we\u2019ve made, my immediate focus is on the work in front of me, where I have the privilege to travel across the county, connect directly with residents, and hear firsthand how we can continue improving lives in our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Democrats aren’t the only ones eyeballing the County Executive race in 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the Republican side of the ballot, there might not be any soft launches happening, but there is interest from a deep bench GOP heavyweights that are considering their options according to party sources.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Former U.S. Rep. Chris Jacobs, former Erie County Legislator Ed Rath, West Seneca Town Supervisor Gary Dickson, Erie County legislators Frank Todaro and Lindsey Lorigo, along with Erie County Clerk Mickey Kearns have all expressed interest in running, or have been discussed as candidates for county executive, according to party sources.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dickson previously announced he was running for the 142nd District seat in the NYS Assembly, hoping to unseat Democrat Pat Burke.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite a run for the Assembly, his name has been floated as a potential county executive candidate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As for Jacobs, he has remained relatively out of the public light since leaving Congress in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ed Rath announced a run for his old 6th district seat in the County Legislature this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Erie County Executive race is still more than a year away, but behind the scenes, things are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":["post-161029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}