{"id":250257,"date":"2026-07-23T13:12:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T13:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/250257\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T13:12:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T13:12:35","slug":"zellner-gets-opponent-for-democratic-party-chair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/250257\/","title":{"rendered":"Zellner gets opponent for Democratic Party chair"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amherst Town Council Member John Davis, a relative newcomer to local politics, says he’ll challenge the 7-term incumbent in September’s race for leadership of the Erie County Democratic Committee.<\/p>\n

\t \t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tNews and analysis by Geoff Kelly<\/a>, Investigative Post’s political reporter<\/p>\n

Jeremy Zellner has a challenger for chair of the Erie County Democratic Committee.<\/p>\n

John Davis, an engineer who last fall became the first African American elected to the Amherst Town Council, told Investigative Post yesterday he\u2019s running to replace Zellner. Zellner, meanwhile, has said he plans to seek an eighth two-year term as county chair at the party\u2019s biennial reorganization meeting in September.<\/p>\n

Davis said he\u2019s been polling party committee members in Amherst \u2014 considered a bastion of support for Zellner \u2014 and has received \u201coverwhelming\u201d support for his candidacy. He said he soon will begin reaching out to party leaders in other parts of the county.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the voters sent a message,\u201d Davis said, referring to the June primary for the 61st District State Senate seat, in which he said Democrats \u201cresoundingly rejected\u201d Zellner in favor of Assembly Member Jonathan Rivera. Rivera beat Zellner by nearly 10 percentage points<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The race divided a county party already at odds<\/a> over a number of issues, including who Democrats should endorse to succeed Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, who will not seek reelection next year.<\/p>\n

Zellner raised and spent more than $1.5 million in pursuit of the Senate seat \u2014 first to win a special election in February to fill the seat vacated by Sean Ryan when he became Buffalo mayor, then in his effort to fend off Rivera\u2019s challenge. Rivera spent just shy of $650,000. Davis donated $250 to Rivera in March<\/p>\n

Included in Zellner\u2019s war chest was $236,000 he transferred from his party chair campaign account \u2014 a pool of money he used in the past to help fund town and village party committees and support the party\u2019s endorsed candidates for office.<\/p>\n

There has been much grumbling among party leaders and elected officials about the cost of Zellner\u2019s ambition, but Davis is the first to step out publicly in opposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time for a new chapter,\u201d Davis told me. \u201cThe voters have made it plain and clear what they want to see, and our leadership needs to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Amherst Town Council Member John Davis. Photo: John Davis for Amherst.<\/p>\n

Davis is a project manager<\/a> specializing in the energy sector for the Wendel Companies, an engineering firm that contracts with numerous municipalities throughout Western New York. He became involved in politics about five years ago, first working on the campaign of Amherst Town Supervisor Brian Kulpa and later on the campaign of Amherst Town Council Member Michael Szukala. He finished first among four candidates seeking two seats on the Amherst Town Council last November.<\/p>\n

People who have worked with him in town politics and government tell me he\u2019s smart, hard-working and ambitious. He\u2019s also relatively new to local politics, and most of his politicking has been limited to Amherst. He said he has allies throughout the county, however, including \u201csome very influential Democrats\u201d and elected officials who he believes will support him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

State Senator Jeremy Zellner. Photo: WKBW 7 News.<\/p>\n

Zellner, in a text message, noted that the county party \u201cplayed a critically important role in electing John to the Amherst town board last year, so he knows full well the importance of strong party leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs always, this is an open process, and I look forward to a spirited debate,\u201d Zellner wrote.<\/p>\n

The incumbent has a significant advantage in the event of a floor vote at September\u2019s meeting. The county party\u2019s town and village committee members have elected Zellner chair seven times, and in many cases their loyalty has been rewarded with public sector jobs. He has the support of Poloncarz and Gov. Kathy Hochul, who can\u2019t be happy with the prospect of a party squabble in the midst of her reelection campaign.<\/p>\n

Rivera, who faces no Republican opposition for the Senate seat in November, agreed with Davis\u2019s assessment of the message sent by his win over Zellner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a rarity for voting Democrats to express how they really feel about their party leadership,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we are never going to go far as a party if we don\u2019t listen to voters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our free weekly newsletters<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

A handful of other names have been floated as potential challengers to Zellner for chair. One is Cheektowaga Town Supervisor Brian Nowak, who told Investigative Post he believes the party needs to change, \u201cregardless of the outcome of this reorganization.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy vote is up for grabs and I will work with anyone to improve financial oversight and bylaw adherence,\u201d he wrote in a text message.<\/p>\n

Another name in the mix is attorney Sean Cooney, a longtime Democratic Party insider who co-chaired Ryan\u2019s run for mayor last year. Cooney did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\t\t\tposted 1 day ago – July 22, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amherst Town Council Member John Davis, a relative newcomer to local politics, says he’ll challenge the 7-term incumbent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":["post-250257","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\/250257","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=250257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}