Robert J. McCarthy reports in the Buffalo News that the campaign for president of the United States begins in New York on Dec. 31. “If you’re going to run in New York, you have to petition, and Dec. 31 is the first day to circulate,” says Erie County Democratic Chairperson Jeremy J. Zellner. Almost all Republicans in the state are backing the incumbent president, but few Democrats have announced their favorites this early in the campaign. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been talking positively about Joe Biden for the past year. Bernie Sanders has some backers leftover from 2016. “We have a list from last time,” said Cheektowaga Councilperson Brian Nowak, who backed the Vermont Senator in 2016. “And a ‘barometer’ to figure out what worked and what didn’t.” Andrew Yang, who comes from upstate New York, seems to have something of a following in the state, but so far there is little evidence of much backing for former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. New York holds its primary election on April 28. Read more about this story in the Buffalo News.