Hamburg Town Supervisor candidates reflect on election

HAMBURG, N.Y. (WIVB) — Democrats took home several victories in Tuesday night’s election, but the blue wave hit a break wall in Hamburg.

Republican Beth Farrell Lorentz won the town supervisor race, but only by roughly 111 votes.

Unofficial vote totals show this race came down to the wire with less than one percentage point separating Lorentz from her opponent, Democrat Robert Reynolds Jr. WIVB News 4 spoke with him following his defeat.

“I ran a nice clean campaign, and I focused on Hamburg,” said Reynolds. “Focusing on Hamburg was my whole key and I’m a good, proven leader, but maybe I’m a little too old for these people.”

Josh Collins, a candidate whose name was not even on the ballot, put up surprisingly big numbers as well. He captured nearly 14% of the votes.

“Politics is one of those things that you really don’t know what it is until you get into it,” said Collins. “When you feel the full force of the GOP and the Democrats coming down on you because they felt like you were a threat, it’s eye-opening.”

Lorentz, who was elected to the town board in 2017, took to social media to celebrate her victory, stating, “Yesterday was an incredible win for our team. I am honored and humbled to have been elected Hamburg Town Supervisor.”

Reynolds said the town board and supervisor have no excuses now when it comes to making real change.

“I want to see her get out and start developing this area,” said Reynolds. “She’s got the community center, but we’ve also got the stadium, that’s a huge development up there with ECC going up for sale. We’ve got distressed property around. We’ve got closed businesses around.”

Both Reynolds and Collins told News 4 they plan to step away from local government.

Collins said despite the outcome, this was a huge learning experience for him.

“I think it’s time in this country that there should be a third party that’s viable,” said Collins. “Democrats, Republicans, and a third party, because choice is very important for voters.”

Lorentz will replace the acting town supervisor, Cathy Rybczynski, who took the position after serving as town clerk for over 22 years. Rybczynski chose not to run this election.