Steinhauser said the group will coordinate with local Tea Party leaders to organize door-to-door canvassing efforts and ask its members across the country to participate in phone banking efforts targeting Davis. 

“You have to be for limited government to run under the Tea Party banner and when you look at [Davis’s] record and what he’s stood for, not only is not a conservative, he’s potentially a Democratic plant,” Steinhauser said.

After being spurned by Republicans and the state’s Conservative Party, Davis launched a third party bid and Democrats are betting he could siphon enough votes away from Corwin to hand a victory to Hochul. On Wednesday, Davis won the backing of David Bellavia, an Iraq war veteran who sought the Republican and Conservative Party’s nods earlier this year. 

Sensing an opportunity, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee dropped a $250,000 buy into the district this week.

New York Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand are both set to stump for Hochul in the closing two weeks, according to her campaign. And Gillibrand and the DCCC have issued fundraising pleas on her behalf. The committee also directed $100,000 to Hochul’s campaign through fundraising and coordinated spending.

National Republicans, meanwhile, are hammering away at Davis on the airways. American Crossroads is spending some $650,000 in the district, running a 30-second spot targeting Davis and the National Republican Congressional Committee is expected to get involved, as well. 

-Sean J. Miller contributed reporting.