# Byron Brown > [!info] Stub > Minimal-viable page created to resolve a wikilink from [[India Walton]]. Expand with his tenure record and state-party role. Buffalo's 62nd mayor (January 1, 2006 – October 15, 2024) — the city's first Black mayor and its longest-serving. Before City Hall he represented the Masten District on the Buffalo Common Council and served in the New York State Senate; he chaired the New York State Democratic Party from 2016 to 2019. Brown lost the June 22, 2021 Democratic primary to democratic socialist [[India Walton]], declined to debate her, and six days later launched a **write-in campaign**. After courts first granted and then removed his independent ballot line, he won the November 2021 general as a write-in with about 59% of the vote, backed by the Buffalo police union and local Republicans. He resigned in October 2024 to become president and CEO of Western Regional Off-Track Betting; Councilmember Christopher Scanlon became acting mayor, and State Sen. Sean Ryan won the 2025 election to succeed him. ## Related - [[India Walton]] — 2021 primary winner he defeated by write-in - [[Kathy Hochul]] — fellow Buffalo-area Democrat; governor during his final term