Jim Keane’s margin of victory over Paul Clark and Jimmy Griffin in Tuesday’s primary election has been deemed surprising. It was large—Keane got 53 percent of the vote, to Clark’s 25 percent and Griffin’s 22 percent—but I don’t know that it was surprising. Only 19 percent of eligible voters took the time to go to the polls, no doubt because the campaign for the Democratic line in November’s general election has been a yawn, a series of lazy smears and precious little talk about policy matters, on which Clark and Keane differ very little. A low turnout comprises voters motivated not by issues or candidates but by party loyalty or an affiliation—with a union, for example—and those voters were always all with Keane, excepting the handful who were sentimentally devoted to Griffin.

Clark remains on November’s ballot as the Indepencence Party candidate, but that’s a losing proposition: Keane is only going to gain support in his party between now and November; it’s not as if Griffin’s supporters are going to jump on board Clark’s bandwagon; and Republicans won’t abandon Chris Collins. He’d do well to fold up his campaign and try to figure out why he couldn’t even carry his hometown of West Seneca. Or why members of his own campaign staff were reportedly jumping off his ship and onto Keane’s even before the votes had been tallied.

In the city, Mike LoCurto successfully defended his Delaware District Common Council seat against Jessica Maglietto, the special aide to Mayor Byron Brown who administers the CitiStat program. (Remember when the administration of CitiStat required a nationwide search for a seasoned professional? Remember Angela Joyner, who came all the way from Oakland, California, to run CitiStat, only to depart months later, reportedly because she couldn’t get along with Deputy Mayor Steve Casey?)

Maglietto raised almost $30,000 for her campaign; half of that came from fundraisers and direct contributions from City Hall employees, who also carried her literature, walked her around the neighborhood and appeared with her at community events. Casey and Brown leaned on a lot of people to support Maglietto, whom they hoped to install as a reliable ally on the Common Council, but to no avail: LoCurto took 66 percent of the vote. Nearly 3,700 Democrats went to the polls in the Delaware District, a thousand more than voted in any other councilmanic district, which suggests that LoCurto and the Democratic Party machinery did a fine job turning out their voters—while Casey’s operation succeeded only in spending a lot of money, both LoCurto’s and Maglietto’s.

Casey and Brown were dealt another blow in the Niagara District race, where their support for Peter Savage III may have done the candidate more harm than good. First Casey leaned on Niagara District Democratic committee members to endorse Savage, who he imagined would be an ally to the mayor on the Common Council, just like Maglietto. The committee endorsed Buffalo police officer David Rivera instead. Then, in Tuesday’s primary—despite raising and spending far more money than Rivera, despite the manpower mustered for his campaign by the mayor, despite a two-month head start in campaigning—Savage apparently came up short of winning the Democratic nomination. On Wednesday morning, Rivera held a 78-vote lead—1,342 to 1,264. (More than 200 abstentee ballots remain to be counted.) Savage will be on the November ballot regardless, as the Conservative Party candidate, but that too is a losing proposition: No one has ever been elected to Buffalo’s Common Council on a third party line. Which is bad news as well for Eric Jones, who’s running for the seat as the Green Party candidate. Young Sergio Rodriguez is running as a Republican, which is more or less a concession speech.

Savage is a smart, able and likeable guy—the Niagara District is going to get a good Democratic candidate no matter how those absentee ballots break—but Rivera had two advantages. First, in a district whose Latino community has been waiting a long time to elect one of its own to Common Council, Rivera’s support base was motivated to go to the polls. Second, Savage was the mayor’s candidate; Rivera asked for Brown’s blessing, too, but the mayor chose to stand behind Savage. Brown’s support may have worked out all right for Jim Keane but was apparently the kiss of death for Savage and Maglietto.

Firefighter Bryon McIntyre’s run at Brian Davis’ seat in the Ellicott District was something of a flop; McIntyre only pulled in 498 votes, or 24 percent. McIntyre has another shot at Davis in November, on the Conservative Party line.

And the crowded field running for the Democratic line for the Masten District seat couldn’t keep up with incumbent Demone Smith, who was appointed to the seat in January when Antoine Thompson went to Albany and the state senate. Smith won with 65 percent of the vote. Terrence Robinson got just nine percent, Dwayne Ferguson got 10 percent and Melissa Brown was first runner-up with 16 percent. Smith will run unopposed in November.