By Michael Mottern

One of the first times I ever met Jonathan or “Jon” Rivera, was when he was a student at Buffalo State College around the same time I was. A son of a retired police officer in the City of Buffalo, common council member David Rivera, I knew that the progressives were selective about who they were endorsing in Erie County and the candidates turned out to be successful people. At that time I was a student at Buffalo State college receiving my degree in history with a minor in political science, I had just referred my friend Sam Somastrada to the campaign for work as a canvasser and meet the local progressives. That year, David Rivera had successfully captured the lower West side of Buffalo in the district council race.

June 23 was not a good day to be an incumbent or a party boss in Erie County New York, where the progressives cleaned up in the State Assembly and State Senate race. Rivera trounced Erie County Democratic committee chairman Jeremy Zellner and their big donors as well. Rivera won 54% of the vote in the Erie County district;  Zellner got 45%, leaving the machine Democrats in the dust in the City of Buffalo and the surrounding areas

Rivera was endorsed by the local Working Families Party and a plethora of labor unions like AFL-CIO New York, CSEA, the United Auto Workers, 1199 SEIU, and the Carpenters Union. Not having a car, I was limited to the amount of canvassing I could do outside my district but since Rivera was running in my district, and my housing complex is actually a polling precinct there, I could not only contact the Rivera campaign but after being courted by The Working Families Party, I decided to make a few phone calls. Immediately, somebody from the Rivera campaign got back to me. They arranged for me to get lawn signs to put out at 6:00am in the morning on Primary Day, as well as t-shirts and campaign buttons. Somehow, I survived and after getting roasted in the sun for 9 hours and Rivera’s victory made it all worthwhile. 

Rivera was not only backed by the Working Families Party of Western New York chapter but also Adam Bojak and DSA. Social Democrats USA has also endorsed Adam Bojack in the past. I’ve been involved in primary challenging Erie County Democrats for so long finally an election victory feels good and the hard work pays off. The majority of people that were die-hard Rivera supporters at my polling precinct were the majority as far as I could tell. 

Rivera’s top issues were: taxing the rich, cracking down on price gouging, fighting for universal health care, standing up to Trump and ICE, and getting the special interests out of politics, especially when it comes to the big money politics of the Erie County Democratic machine. Rivera’s slogan was fighting for the People, not the Powerful!! 

Let’s hope we progressives can continue our winning streak!

Michael Mottern is First Vice-President of Social Democrats USA.