One of the GOP's best pick-up opportunities in November will be in this southern New York open seat contest.
New York's 29th district is a backward L-shaped district that ranges from the southern suburbs of Rochester near Lake Ontario in the north to New York's border with Pennsylvania on the south. The district includes Elmira, Pittsford, Corning, and Olean. The district is dotted with small towns and is a world apart from New York City. This district, like much of Upstate New York, has not experienced much, if any, population growth in recent decades.
The small town feel of this district, coupled with the historical preference for Republicans in Upstate have made this district Republican. The 29th gave George W. Bush a hefty 14% victory in 2004 and while Barack Obama carried much of Upstate in 2008 he lost the 29th by 3%.
The Democratic wave of 2008 was enough to allow Democrat Eric Massa to defeat two-term incumbent Randy Kuhl in the 29th. Massa, a Navy veteran who had served as General Wesley Clark's special assistant, ran as a centrist and defeated Kuhl by just over 5,000 votes.
Massa had a bumpy road from the start of his congressional career. First, he failed to win a coveted seat on the House Transportation Committee. He made controversial comments with regard to health care (stating at one point that he would vote against the interests of his district if necessary).
In October 2009, Massa announced that he would seek re-election to Congress. However, in February 2010, a senior member of Massa's staff filed sexual harassment complaints with the House Ethics Committee. In early March, Massa announced that he would not seek re-election, citing a recurrence of cancer. Two days later, Massa resigned his seat in Congress citing his health and the on-going ethics investigation.
Massa's odd behavior briefly made him a national celebrity. Allegations came forward that Massa had groped male staff members; Massa admitted to getting too familiar with his staff. Massa also made national headlines when he claimed a naked White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel bullied him for his failure to support the President's budget.
Compared to Massa's melodramatic exit from the House, the race to succeed him has been a quiet affair. Corning Attorney and Businessman Tom Reed secured the GOP nomination without competition. Reed is touting his outsider status and is running on a mostly conservative platform. Democrats scrambled to come up with a nominee in the aftermath of the Massa scandal. In the end, the Democrats nominated 28-year-old Afghanistan veteran Matt Zeller. Zeller is running as a fiscally conservative, military supporting Democrat.
Reed has raised considerably more money than Zeller. At the last reporting period, Zeller listed only $50,000 in the bank. National Democrats have not decided to target this race, virtually conceding this seat to the GOP. Reed should have no trouble flipping this seat in November.
No comments:
Post a Comment