The Erie County Democratic Committee has endorsed New York state Sen. Sean Ryan as its candidate for mayor of Buffalo.

This comes after a multi-month process including three forums and as many as 10 candidates who expressed interest in the endorsement.

Ultimately, the committee says the vote was unanimous for Ryan, who began laying out his plans for the campaign, including how to tackle things like poverty, public safety and the city's fiscal crisis.

He says his status as an outsider who has never worked in Buffalo city government should work to his favor. 

"The great advantage of coming in as an outsider is you get the fresh eyes," Ryan said. "And that's what the city of Buffalo needs to break the status quo. We need to look at things with fresh eyes, to be open to making changes. Coming from the Assembly and the Senate, use that wealth of experience of how to handle problems all over the state."

"Overwhelmingly throughout this process, it was 'we need change. We can't do business as usual,'" Erie County Democratic Committee Chairman Jeremy Zellner said. 

This is the first time in two decades there has been an open mayoral seat in the city of Buffalo. 

Other candidates, including Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon, have expressed interest in running in a primary, which will come quickly. The petitioning process starts this coming Tuesday.