BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — In the race for Erie county Sheriff, the democratic and republican candidates are both seeing themselves as the underdog.
"The voters, they spoke and it was a resounding victory," John Garcia, the Republican candidate for Sheriff, said.
"We indisputably won in Erie county, so yeah, I was the under dog," Kim Beaty, the Democratic candidate for Sheriff, said.
So why do both feel they were being counted against? Well, both Garcia and Beaty were not endorsed by their parties prior to last night's election.
For Garcia, it isn't something he took a lot of stock in.
"This is not a political office," Garcia said, "We don’t care what your political affiliation is or your religious beliefs, we provide the best service to each and every individual in Erie County."
As for Beaty, she believed that the endorsement from the party was not something that would define the primary.
"As far as not having the endorsement from the Democratic Party, I always felt I was the best candidate and have done a lot as far as law enforcement in Erie County."
Garcia is a former Buffalo Police officer of 25 years. He was the commander of the crisis management team and a homicide detective. Kim Beaty is the Canisius College director of public safety and spent 34 years in the Buffalo Police Department before that. If elected, she would become the first black sheriff in Erie County history. Both are running against Karen Healy-Case, on the conservative line, and Ted DiNoto, an independent.
Healy-Case could not be reached for this story, but DiNoto did speak at a press conference. He said that the lack of party endorsed candidates winning shows the need for an independent.
"This is exactly what I have been talking about, people are tired of parties, they are tired of the agendas and they want change," DiNoto said.
