Byron William Brown II (born September 24, 1958) is an American politician who is the 62nd and current mayor of Buffalo, New York, elected on November 8, 2005 and is the City's first African-American mayor. He previously served Western New York as a member of the New York State Senate and Buffalo Common Council. He was the first African-American politician elected to the New York State Senate to represent a district outside New York City and the first member of any minority race to represent a majority white New York State Senate district. Brown was born and raised in Queens, New York. He rose to elective office after serving in a variety of political roles. He began his political career performing as an aide to local representatives in several legislative bodies (Buffalo Common Council, Erie County Legislature and New York State Assembly) and later getting involved in a regional political organization. After several roles as a legislative aide, he was appointed to the Erie County cabinet-level Director of Equal Employment Opportunity post. As both a New York State Senator and Buffalo Mayor, he has been closely involved in the development of the three Seneca Nation casinos that have been planned and built in Western New York since 2002. As someone born and raised downstate who went on to become an upstate political servant, he has been active on the statewide political front. He is a close political ally of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. He has also been active with the National Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition in efforts to prevent gun-related crime. His plan to revitalize Buffalo by demolishing its abundant vacant buildings has drawn opposition from historic preservationists, but he has made the development of the Buffalo waterfront a priority.