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A spokesman for the Working Families Party in New York said the party will work to elect Democratic nominee Alice Kryzan in the 26th congressional district, despite the fact that Iraq veteran Jon Powers will be the Working Families nominee.
Kryzan stunned Powers and 2006 nominee Jack Davis in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, winning with 42 percent of the vote. But Powers, who received national Democratic backing for his run, was unopposed for the Working Families nomination.
That creates a troubling situation for Democrats, with two of their candidates on the general-election ballot and potentially splitting votes in a swing district.
A Working Families official said Wednesday that the party could not legally remove Powers from the ballot, but that it would back Kryzan.
“I’m sure we’ll support Alice’s campaign,” the official said. “I don’t think there was ever any talk of doing the third-party thing. We play to win.”
Kryzan will face off against Republican businessman Chris Lee, whom the GOP hopes will hold on to the seat of retiring Rep. Tom Reynolds (R).
Powers’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.
In other Empire State races, New York City Councilman Mike McMahon (D) and former state Assemblyman Bob Straniere (R) will face off in retiring Rep. Vito Fossella’s (R) Staten Island district after easily winning their primaries.
Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) is a safe bet for another term in Brooklyn after doubling up former reality TV star Kevin Powell, and former state Assemblyman Paul Tonko (D) looks to be headed for Congress in retiring Rep. Michael McNulty’s (D-N.Y.) Democratic-leaning district after defeating Tracey Brooks, a former aide to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).
It’s a rematch in New Hampshire as former Rep. Jeb Bradley (R) edged former state Health Commissioner John Stephen 51-47. Bradley will face freshman Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D), who defeated him in 2006.
The state’s other district is a tougher potential GOP takeover. There, radio host Jennifer Horn defeated state Sen. Bob Clegg 40-34 in the Republican primary to face freshman Rep. Paul Hodes (D).
In Minnesota, comedian Al Franken cruised to the Democratic nomination for Senate with 65 percent of the vote, but attorney Priscilla Lord Faris took 30 percent. Franken will now face Sen. Norm Coleman (R) and the Independence Party nominee, former interim Sen. Dean Barkley, who easily won their primaries.
In the state’s 1st district, state party-backed physician Brian Davis defeated state Sen. Dick Day for the GOP nomination to take on freshman Rep. Tim Walz (D). |
