Earlier this week, The Buffalo Chronicle reported that the politically influential former Deputy Election Commissioner and City of Tonawanda Democratic Party Chairperson is supporting Bernie Sanders for President, based on supportive commentary made on social media.
“Reposting of positions of Bernie Sanders does not mean an endorsement,” Syposs clarified. “I happen to agree with many of Sanders’ positions but will be circulating Hillary Clinton petitions soon.”
“My hope all along was that the Sanders campaign would have some effect on Democrats nationally,” Syposs explains.
The situation is emblematic of the struggle of many in the Democratic Party — torn by longstanding allegiances to the Clintons, but finding themselves seduced by the policy priorities of an unapologetic liberal.
Syposs is the quintessential political bellwether and offers a unique insight into the palace intrigue of machine style politics at a time when divisions are deep.
Schooled in politics under Joe Crangle himself, a party boss notorious for his stranglehold over Erie County Democratic politics for more than a generation, she is widely credited with maintaining the party’s dominance in the Tonawandas.
It’s rumored that former Erie County Chairman Len Lenihan had considered backing her as his replacement, but feared that her stature already rivaled his own. He selected Jeremy Zellner instead, age 32 at the time.
Her constituency of working class, disaffected, ‘post-industrial’ Democrats is a natural one for Sanders, whose message of economic populism resonates strongly. If Sanders is serious about winning the New York primary these are votes that he will need.
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