BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Over the next 10 weeks, Democratic gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi will host seven telephone town halls covering the entire state.

"We're trying to reach out to people. Let people know who I am," Suozzi said. "A lot of people don't know who I am. And to tell them about my executive experience as a former mayor and a county executive and now a member of Congress and my training as a CPA and attorney and to talk about the fact that I'm a commonsense Democrat."

The first town hall, Wednesday, covered Buffalo, Rochester and parts of the Southern Tier. The day before, thousands of registered Democrats received a robo-call invitation. Suozzi said he has family roots in Western New York and has helped campaign here, most recently in the fall for Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown's write-in campaign.

"I've got a long connection. I understand the people of the region and I want to get to understand them better and I want them to know me better and that's why I'm doing these telephone town halls to directly touch people," he said.

Western New York, however, is the home base for current Gov. Kathy Hochul. Seven Democratic county chairs in the region have already endorsed Hochul.

Erie County Chairman Jeremy Zellner expects Suozzi will have a tough time.

"This is Hochul country and I don't see anybody cracking the dam here for Kathy," Zellner said. "She's worked tirelessly. I don't know of any electeds who are not supporting her. As I said, we've had a flow of people calling us and reaching out, 'how can we help?' So I don't know what he can say on this call."

But Suozzi believes his platform, including focuses on lowering taxes and reducing crime, will resonate with Democratic voters even if he doesn't have local party support.

"I've always had the odds against me in races I've done before and I always go straight to the people. I don't go through the politicians," he said. "I don't go through the elected officials. I go straight to the people."

The candidate said as the campaign moves on, he does expect to spend time in Western New York in person as well.