Things may be going well for Donald Trump these days, but they're a bit rockier for one of his biggest backers, New York politician and real estate mogul Carl Paladino.
Paladino nearly lost re-election to the Buffalo school board Tuesday, winning by just 107 votes out of the almost 3,000 cast.
His opponent was an 18-year-old high school student who said he ran because it was time "to bring some adult behavior to the board."
"Carl, you're the loser. I'm not the loser," Austin Harig said after the results came in, according to The Buffalo News. "This wasn’t about winning a seat. ... This was about kids in the district."
Paladino is the Trump of Buffalo. In 2010, he pulled off a surprising win in the GOP primary for governor but eventually lost to Democrat Andrew Cuomo in the general election. Known for his brash style and controversial comments, Paladino got caught up in a scandal when a media outlet published racist and sexist emails he had forwarded.
The politician is the New York co-chair of Trump's campaign and played a big role in the state's April 19 primary. He helped Trump pick up his first congressional endorsement and organized a major rally in downtown Buffalo on the eve of the primary.
The Post-Standard reported that although Paladino tried -- unsuccessfully -- to challenge Harig's petition signatures to get on the ballot, he largely ignored the student's school board bid and skipped a chance to debate him.
The Huffington Post did not reach out to Paladino for comment because in the past, he has said he refuses to speak to this publication because he hates it.
Editor's note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims -- 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -- from entering the U.S.