Last month, as Democratic voters in New York City puzzled pundits by nominating the moderate Eric Adams for mayor while simultaneously voting in what will likely be a historically progressive City Council, comptroller, and public advocate, upstate Democrats went to the polls, too.

In the state’s second and third largest cities, Buffalo and Rochester, voters delivered results that could reshape both cities’ politics. In Rochester, progressive wins at the city and county levels signaled a possible new direction for the Democratic Party. In Buffalo, India Walton’s shocking upset victory — despite the incumbent mayor’s announcement that he will run a write-in campaign in the general election — could bend a moderate Democratic city toward her socialist vision.

The victories further a leftward trend in Western New York that was also seen in the area’s most recent state legislative elections.