It wasn’t the best week for pretty much anyone who reads Daily Kos. The national results were in, and the unthinkable had happened in terms of who would be heading to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue come January 20. The residents of the deeply blue City of Erie were in no different a space, as their solid vote for Hillary Clinton — she won all 69 voting districts in the City of Erie — was not enough to keep the suburbs and small towns and rural areas from pushing the county into the red column for the first time since 1984, and the entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania into the red column for the first time since 1988. The deeply blue City of Erie was experiencing a different kind of being deeply blue that week.
Enter Jay Breneman. Conventional wisdom wouldn’t have said this was the best week to launch a campaign to be the next Mayor of Erie. But conventional wisdom has not really been successful in charting this journey. He told the Erie Times, "People are incredibly concerned about the future of our city and of our community. Probably now more than ever. I've already demonstrated an approach to doing things differently, and I want people to know they will have a voice in the future of Erie." And so it was, on November 11, 2016, a whole lot of Erie folks who were feeling really trumped gathered at Wayne Park in Erie’s Historic East Bayfront neighborhood to hear a different message. Jay Breneman announced his candidacy for Mayor of the City of Erie.
The other night, Jay and I were talking about this. We both talked about how awful everyone was feeling after the Presidential election, but also that his unconventional announcement timing sparked people, giving them some optimism in a a very difficult time, particularly in city as Democratic as Erie. I first met Jay Breneman by going on a long walk with him — #JayWalking as he calls it. Jay has spent much of his weekend free time going on lengthy walks through Erie neighborhoods with Erie residents, spending 1-2 hours with them hearing their stories and concerns, talking about their neighborhoods and their dreams for their city. I cannot say I’ve ever had a candidate spend an hour and a half with me talking about what matters to me — ever. But as we walked and talked, what I had read about Jay in the media and on his website came to life -— real, authentic, intelligent, caring. The real deal. And in a city like Erie with great bones and great potential, but much in need of a major push forward, it was obvious that he is the real thing. No #AlternativeFacts. And he doesn’t back down. In perhaps the most important Mayoral election in the history of Erie, we need to make the right choice.
Pat Howard, in the Erie Times 11/13/2016:
Also essential to aspirations for a resurgent Erie is addressing one of the community's most glaring deficits — a chronic shortage of engaged, catalytic political leadership. Erie residents will soon have a chance to do something about that.
In becoming the first candidate to formally announce a 2017 mayoral run, Breneman, 34, went straight at that, explicitly calling out three-term Mayor Joe Sinnott and his crimped view of the office's role and responsibilities. We'll see whether Breneman can make the case that he's the right person to take the rudder, but he has the broad outlines right.
Breneman will likely be one of a number of candidates seeking to succeed Sinnott, who reaches the three-term limit at the end of 2017. But on Friday he staked out ground that must be covered by anyone running in what could be the most consequential election in Erie's history.
Erie is a city with a strong tradition of welcoming refugees. Some 10% of Erie’s ~ 100,000 residents are refugees, with 20% of the city overall being immigrants. Jay has spent a great deal of time in our immigrant and refugee community, and recognizes and embraces that Erie’s New Americans are contributing heavily to making Erie a more vibrant city, a fact that did not escape James and Deborah Fallows of The Atlantic, who wrote a wonderful series of articles about Erie and New Americans in 2016. (read more here and here)
I was there when Jay addressed the crowd at the Erie Stands with Refugees and Immigrants rally January 29, in the wind and freezing cold on Erie’s Bayfront, and his commitment shown through clearly. He is committed to the residents of Erie who came here a different way than many of us who were born here. It’s pretty clear he’s not afraid of Donald Trump. Do take the time to listen to him in the video below:
Jay’s first run for office was supposed to be a defeat, challenging 2-term incumbent Ronald “Whitey” Cleaver for a seat on Erie County Council in the 2013 Democratic Primary. The powers that were didn’t offer their support. Then-County Executive Barry Grossman ”hinted at me dropping out, and said, pretty much my chances were nil,” Jay told the Erie Reader about his candidacy. (Grossman would be defeated for re-nomination that same night by former US Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper in the Democratic primary. Hmmm……. )
You know where this story leads. Jay didn’t just win the primary, he swept to victory — earning the Democratic nomination 2145-1478, carrying 20 of 21 voting districts. With no Republican candidate, Jay Breneman would be County Councilman-elect.
On Jay’s surprise election to County Council, the Erie Reader wrote in its 2013 Year in Review, “But perhaps our favorite County Council result was the victory of 31-year-old Montana-born army vet Jay Breneman, who offers something Erie government sees too infrequently: youth, ambition, and ability.”
Conventional wisdom also wouldn’t have thought a kid from Montana would find his way to Erie, Pennsylvania. I do love this city, it’s my hometown, and I’d urge anyone who wants to live in a bright blue city with low costs and many amenities to take a look at us, but we are a bit lacking in the cattle ranches of Jay’s youth. Conventional wisdom misses a lot of things, but there is one place it is right in local politics. What happens after the primary in the City of Erie? The Democrat wins. The last time a Republican was elected Mayor of Erie was 1961. The Kossian desire for more and better Democrats rings strongly in a race such as any citywide race in Erie, where the Democratic primary is almost always tantamount to the general election. A not-so-great Democrat winning a primary is likely to end up as a not-so-great office holder. Erie is also a city which has lost 40,000 people in the last half-century, not unlike many cities in this part of the world; Jay understands that for as many of us who really want to be here, there are others who are hanging on, looking for a reason to stay. The choices we make on primary day, May 16, will tell us about the next 50 years in the City of Erie.
Tagged as one of Erie’s 40 under 40 in 2014, Jay would be a major generational change for Erie. Millennial? Yep. 9/11 was a formative event in his life. He enlisted in the military shortly thereafter and served 2 combat tours in Iraq.
Even as current County Council Chair, at 35 he is the youngest member of County Council, and is also the youngest candidate in the Democratic primary. There is a lot of “millennial energy” in the Breneman campaign. And energy from, um, slightly older folks like me, too! But this is significant for Erie. Jay was not born here, but chose to come here. He is not of the old school Erie pols. Electing Jay would be a significant psychological break for the city from the malaise and atrophy that has loomed over Erie politics for decades. He speaks the language of needing to break from the status quo, but unlike a lot of candidates who throw phrases like that around but have no idea what the hell they are doing (looking at you, Trumpists ), Jay understands that being elected to office means you have to lead and govern, and he knows how. He’s already done it, from his work helping seniors stay in their homes to starting Veteran’s programs at 2 local universities to his work on Erie County Council. In 2017, the youngest candidate is clearly the grown-up in Erie politics.
Some videos from the Jay Breneman for Mayor campaign:
A few months before declaring his candidacy, Jay started talking about Erie’s New Deal. In 1936, FDR visited Erie and was greeted by a cheering throng of 10,000, and he “lauded Erie’s advances toward recovery.” I think he’d be honored by Jay’s use of his words, as Jay’s vision for Erie is what Erie needs to advance toward a healthier and more vibrant future. Around Erie, signs have emerged in a variety of places reading NEW YEAR. NEW ERIE. WE NEED TO DO THIS. Yeah we do. Big time. We have blighted areas and underfunded schools. We need more jobs. We have dynamic growth on our Bayfront and in parts of our Downtown, but we have to link them. Our neighborhoods are walkable, have amazing potential, but need help. Frankly, we’ve made some dumb decisions in the past and cannot afford to do so again.
It is not hyperbole to say this is the most important mayoral election in the city’s history. I invite you to go into the details of #EriesNewDeal, but here are some major points a the Standard for the Future for Erie Jay is proposing:
Targeted 10-year Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance for commercial and residential development
New community college in Downtown Erie
Connecting Erie’s beautiful waterfront to Downtown
Downtown Erie Innovation District -— bringing higher paying jobs through R&D, infrastructure spending, etc. Partnerships with universities, industry.
Comprehensive community center networks
Storefront precincts for law enforcement, code enforcement
Additional housing incentives for teachers, police, firefighters
Micro-grants for homeowners in transitioning neighborhoods
YouthBuildErie
Aggressive facelift of Erie’s 12th Street Corridor
Many challenges lie ahead for Erie. But I look at Jay Breneman and listen to his vision, and I see the transformational leader my city needs. He is centered, grounded, and yet knows how we can get to the dreams for our city. Best of all, he knows what he is doing. For everyone else, it’s folks like Jay that all our communities need to rise up and be willing to seek to lead through service by running for office.
JayBreneman.org
@JayBreneman (both Instagram and Twitter)
Elect Jay Breneman Mayor of Erie!