The incumbent four-term Democratic mayor of Buffalo, Byron Brown, declared a victory Tuesday night in his write-in election campaign against self-proclaimed democratic socialist India Walton. Brown, 63, lost to Walton in the June Democratic primary before launching a write-in campaign. On Tuesday, he declared a victory over his opponent after local media reported Walton had won 41 percent of the vote while nearly 59 percent of the votes were for “write-in,” according to the Erie County Board of Elections. However, the write-in votes, however still need to be checked to confirm that Brown’s name has been indicated. Officials are expected to begin examining the write-in ballots on Nov. 16. In a speech delivered to his supporters outside of his campaign headquarters shortly after 11 p.m, Brown said the Buffalo mayor election was much more than just a, “referendum on the future of the city of Buffalo.” “It was a referendum on the future of our democracy,” Brown said, according to The …