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Dems get in New York state of mind |
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By Michael O'Brien
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Posted: 09/05/08 01:20 PM [ET] |
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A litany of late primaries in New York will cement some of November’s most challenging races for both Democrats and Republicans.
Democrats in particular are looking to defend their 2006 victories and add to their House majority in the next term.
Democrats are hoping to pick up seats in New York’s 26th and 13th districts, where five-term Rep. Tom Reynolds (R) and scandal-plagued Rep. Vito Fossella (R), respectively, are retiring.
In Reynolds’s suburban Buffalo district, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has backed Iraq war veteran Jon Powers in Tuesday’s primary, though industrialist and perennial candidate Jack Davis hopes to get another shot after losing to Reynolds by four points in 2006.
Powers has raised over $1 million in the race to date, though he has spent almost $850,000 through mid-August. But Davis has kept the fundraising pace by lending his campaign more than $1.3 million, including a $100,000 personal contribution on Aug. 27.
“We’re very confident about Tuesday,” said Powers’s communications director Victoria Dillon. While the campaign has not done any polling in the race, Dillon pointed to unanimous support from the local Democratic Party chapters and labor unions — groups that had supported Davis in the past.
Davis has also been prone to embarrassing gaffes. According to the Buffalo News, Davis said increased immigration from Mexico into southern states could result in a new Civil War.
The winner of that Democratic race will face Republican businessman Chris Lee, who has kept things competitive in terms of fundraising, saving more than $750,000 in cash through Aug. 20. And despite only having spent roughly $220,000 on the race, Lee is still a rare Republican this election cycle: He is one of only a handful of Republican candidates favored in a race to succeed a retiring GOP incumbent.
Lee campaign spokeswoman Andrea Bozek said they would focus on Lee’s experience in manufacturing, a struggling industry in the district. She also stressed an outsider message, arguing that Lee has not been a “career politician.”
”Chris is focused on continuing his conversation with Western New Yorkers on his plans to lower energy costs, lower taxes and create more jobs in Western New York,” Bozek said.
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