By Sean Gallagher
BUFFALO — Voters in the open 149th Assembly District are choosing between two lawyers this fall. The district runs from Buffalo’s West Side through Lackawanna to the Town of Hamburg. The two candidates give very different answers to the same question: how to make Western New York affordable.
Adam Bojak, a tenants’ rights lawyer and Family Court assigned counsel who calls himself a democratic socialist, is running on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines. Frank Bogulski, a criminal defense attorney and Hamburg town councilman, is running on the Republican and Conservative lines. Both sets of party lines were reported by The Buffalo News, which this week published both candidates’ written answers to questions from The Sun. The winner will succeed Assembly Member Jonathan Rivera, a Democrat who is giving up the seat to run for the 61st state Senate District, Investigative Post reported.
Early voting began Saturday. On the first day, 13,220 ballots were cast across Erie County, the county Board of Elections said, according to WGRZ.
Investigative Post described the district as “traditionally Democratic territory, though Hamburg in recent years has swung Republican.” Mr. Bojak lives in the city. Mr. Bogulski was born and raised in Hamburg.
Two answers to affordability
Mr. Bojak built his campaign around housing and household costs, drawing on his legal work for tenants.
“As a tenants’ rights lawyer, I’ve seen first-hand the stress of families struggling to make it to the end of the month as rent eats up more and more of their incomes, leaving little to cover food and other essentials,” Mr. Bojak said in his answers to The Sun. “I’m running for a healthy, housed and affordable Western New York.”
“Meanwhile, rich developers are getting tax breaks to build upscale housing that families in our neighborhoods can’t afford,” he said. He also called for “universal problems” to be met with “universal solutions.”
Mr. Bogulski framed affordability mainly as a matter of taxes and people leaving the state.
“My first priority is making New York more affordable so people can stay here, raise their families, and retire close to the people they love,” Mr. Bogulski said. He backs the proposal by Bruce Blakeman, the Republican nominee for governor, to eliminate state income tax on the first $50,000 of income for individual filers and $100,000 for joint filers. He also supports eliminating state income tax on overtime and tips.
“As a Hamburg town councilman, I have voted against every proposed tax increase,” Mr. Bogulski said. “I will bring that same commitment to Albany.”
Taxes, utilities and the role of government
The clearest policy divide is over corporate taxes and who should own the utilities.
Mr. Bojak wants higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy to pay for new programs, including universal childcare. “Raising the corporate tax rate from 7.25% to 9% would generate more than $1 billion dollars in revenue to fund vital programs and services for families and individuals,” he said. “I will also fight for publicly-owned utilities to put an end to the constant rate hikes that are destroying so many families’ monthly budgets.”
He also backs the New York Health Act, which would create a statewide single-payer health system, and the New York for All Act, which would limit cooperation between state and local agencies and federal immigration enforcement. Mr. Bojak told Investigative Post in June that gas, electric and internet service should be “controlled by the people … not some corporation that’s trying to extract profits from us.”
Mr. Bogulski rejects that approach. “My opponent supports public ownership of utilities,” he said. “I believe we should hold utilities accountable, scrutinize rates, and protect consumers while preserving individual choice.” He said higher business costs risk being passed on to consumers. He opposes what he called “Gov. Kathy Hochul’s ban on gas stoves” and said he would move to let homeowners install gas appliances. He also opposes industrial wind turbines in Lake Erie.
Labels and local control
Mr. Bogulski has made his opponent’s politics a central theme. He called Mr. Bojak “a self-described Socialist and a co-founder of the Buffalo chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.” He also said: “I believe socialism is anti-American and limits the freedom protected by the constitution.” He described himself as “a moderate who believes in freedom, individual choice, lower taxes, and smaller government.”
Mr. Bojak does not run from the label. His campaign website says he wants to bring “a bold, democratic socialist vision to Albany.” The Democratic Socialists of America’s national electoral commission endorsed him as a member of Buffalo DSA. “I am also a Democratic Socialist, which means I believe people should have democratic control of their workplaces and the things that impact their daily lives,” Mr. Bojak told The Sun. He lists endorsements from Mr. Rivera, Sen. Bernie Sanders, UAW Region 9, NYSUT and CSEA. “Our campaign can’t be bought,” he said.
Mr. Bogulski says his record on the Hamburg Town Board, where he was elected in 2025 according to his campaign biography, shows a commitment to local control and limits on growth. He said he “introduced legislation putting a moratorium on data centers” and an earlier measure for a moratorium on apartment complexes, which he said Democrats on the board at the time opposed. The Town Board held a public hearing Oct. 19 on a proposed one-year moratorium on new large-scale data centers. His biography also says he once worked as a labor relations specialist with CSEA, the public employees’ union that has endorsed his opponent.
The money
Both candidates take part in New York’s public campaign finance program, which matches small in-district donations with state money.
For the general election, Mr. Bogulski’s committee, Frank Bogulski for Assembly, has received five payments since August totaling about $91,262. Mr. Bojak’s committee, Friends of Adam Bojak, has received five general-election payments since July totaling $83,694. Those figures come from the Public Campaign Finance Board’s distribution records through Oct. 13. Mr. Bojak also drew public funds before his June primary win, when he took about half the vote against Karen Hoak, the party-endorsed candidate, and Kevin Deese, WGRZ reported.
Both campaigns filed 11-day pre-general disclosure reports with the state Board of Elections, covering activity through Oct. 19. Mr. Bogulski reported about $46,500 in spending. Nearly $35,000 of it went in three payments to D and D Printing for mailings, and $10,000 went to consultant Kyle Kraus. He reported $4,218 in 25 itemized contributions.
Mr. Bojak reported about $48,000 in spending. The largest item was a $20,381 payment to Century Direct Solution for mailings. He also paid $5,252 to consultant David Vibert Inc. and $4,800 to Luke Haag Films. His itemized receipts included about $6,000 from 103 contributions and $3,000 from Courage to Change, a progressive political action committee. His website says the campaign does not take “developer or corporate money.”
The Buffalo Chronicle is seeking comment from both campaigns on the race and the figures in this story, and will update it with any reply.
How and where to vote early
Erie County’s 38 early voting sites are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 25, from noon to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, according to the Erie County Board of Elections. During early voting, county residents may vote at any site. On Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at each voter’s assigned polling place. Site lists and polling place lookups are at elections.erie.gov.
Featured photo: Hamburg Village Hall in the Village of Hamburg, part of the 149th Assembly District. Buffalutheran (CC0), via Wikimedia Commons; cropped.
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