A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the Wilmington City Council in November 2003, serving in the role until his appointment as mayor in December 2006.

Consecutively winning every election since assuming Wilmington's mayoralty, Saffo is the longest-serving mayor in the city's history, carrying out his eighth term as of 2023.

[4] Graduating from John T. Hoggard High School in 1978, he went on to obtain a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

[3][6][7] In May 2006, nearing the end of Saffo's first term, Mayor Spence Broadhurst announced his upcoming relocation to Greensboro and intention to resign his position.

[10] During his first year in office, Saffo consolidated the city's water and sewage departments; initiated a review of the salaries of municipal employees, cautioning voters that fair salaries would require higher taxes; and began to investigate the economic potential of using revenue from the State's hotel room tax to build a new convention center, with construction underway by 2009.