There are three open seats in New York where neither party has an incumbent running for re-election. Each is considered a toss up. The funny thing is that all three have some interesting politics going on.
New York District Three (NY-03)
Oddly, Democrat Steve Israel decided to not run for re-election, even though the district is fairly Democratic and he would have won easily. Maybe he wants to become a full time comic writer.
For the general election it will be Thomas Suozzi on the Democratic side. He is a somewhat perennial candidate who has held elected office before as a county executive. But he also lost his last three races for governor and his re-election bid to the county executive position.
On the Republican side it is State Senator Jack Martins. He has led the way in filing bills that actually get passed. He also really, really hates taxes since most of his bills have to do with that.
The DCCC has already started crazy-gluing Trump to Jack Martins. So this is another seat that the implosion of the Trump Campaign is probably going to have a huge impact on. Martins did say back in May he would support Trump if elected. But as recently as 4 August he has not formally endorsed Trump.
In terms of money, Suozzi has a slight edge. But neither has a huge amount in their war chests. And they are expensive districts to run in, so it is unclear what the money will do for either one.
There is a Libertarian candidate, Michael McDermott, but it is unlikely he will do anything significant in the race.
New York District 19 (NY-19)
This race is going to fun. The district has gone for Obama twice, both times fairly decisively. But the retiring incumbent, Chris Gibson, is a Republican. So the district is considered a toss up.
On the Republican side, the winner of the primary was John Faso. In the 2006 Democratic wave election, he ran in the general election against Eliot Spitzer and lost. After that, he kind of fell off the radar. Instead of politics, he worked on things such as Autism Speaks, a program that helps kids with autism.
On the Democratic side, the primary winner was the fabulously named Zephyr Teachout. She is best known for running against Andrew Cuomo and getting a surprising 34% of the vote. In addition, she has been a big supporter of Occupy Wall Street and Bernie Sanders.
The fun thing about this race is that John Faso is using red baiting. This is at least a bit odd. Faso has said he supports Trump for President, even though he hasn’t endorsed him formally. But, of course, Trump and his campaign have a lot of ties to Russia.
I also found out today that a hedge fund billionaire has decided to spend a small sum of money against Teachout. Luckily Teachout seems to be one of the few people who can pull a Sanders off when it comes to fundraising and the national and state parties are willing to help her out. With a firm effort by Teachout, this may be a pick up.
New York District 22 (NY-22)
This race is not as wild as the other two. And it is the one New York district most likely to go Republican.
It went for the Republican candidates in the past couple of presidential elections even while being represented by a Democrat for ten years before redistricting. So it is possible that this is a pick up for the Democrats.
On the Democratic side is Kim Myers who is related to the Dick’s Sporting Goods family, but runs her own business. She also has been a member of the governing legislature for her county. So she has some experience running for office.
On the Republican side is Claudia Tenney. She is a state assembly member who endorsed Trump prior to her winning the primary. She was considered the underdog and pulled off a bit of an upset. Otherwise, she appears to be boilerplate Republican.
What is interesting about this race is this is a rare situation where a woman is running against another woman. Generally speaking, that doesn’t happen. Otherwise it is ye olde politics.
What Will Be the Outcomes of Each New York District?
I think these may all wind up being Democratic pickups. None of the three districts are heavily Republican, and this is shaping up to be a Democratic wave year based on how well Clinton is doing. She is taking steps to try to have a Democratic Congress to work with for at least the first two years (especially since she knows exactly what is going to happen if she doesn’t). The word is that the RNC is ignoring Trump and trying to salvage races like these.
So with that mess going on at the top on the Republican ticket, and the Democratic side working their tails off to avoid any losses, New York will be so blue it will be visible from space. And that will likely include each New York district discussed here.
That’s great news about Teachout. I’m a big fan. I’m also not surprised millions are being poured into stopping her. She is, after all, a huge critic of financial corruption in politics. Don’t want anyone like that in Washington.
It wasn’t millions-it was a half million.
Republicans seem slightly dispirited. No idea why.
Ah, but she’ll take billionaire Soros’ money. His family is hosting a fundraiser for her next month. Hypocrite.
Ooooh! George Soros! Be afraid! Be very afraid! The ultimate conservative boogieman. Why? Why do conservatives think anything? They heard it on Hate Radio and Red State. And now “mary,” is the time you get to scream, “MSNBC!” But for the record, I don’t think anyone around here watches it.
I’m not a big Soros fan myself. But the conspiracy theories that the right has created about him are nonsense.
Haven’t you heard? He and Buffet (Warren, not Jimmy) are on a mission to inject the hideous cancer of liberal values into politics. Including but not limited to such anti-American obscenities as living wages, protection from corporate predators, universal health care, a safety net for people who lost their jobs, and similar measures which have transformed places like Finland into dystopian Soviet-era hellscapes.
What these worshippers of conservative candidates fail to grasp is how completely America is fast becoming an invitation-only estate sale, with customers and their government packaged up and given to insider bidders. I’m no great fan of Soros or Buffet myself, but they are skilled at investing and they realize if the looting keeps going on unchecked, the country is doomed (if not capitalism itself).
It never ceases to amaze me. People hate lawyers, while the majority have never interacted with a lawyer. People hate government, although their interactions with most government agencies are positive. And yet people worship “business” — even though every single one of us has been screwed and humiliated by cable companies, health insurers, loan collectors, etc. The power of social memes somehow outweighs our own experience. It’s like the country has gotten so corrupt, we trust the guy going “psst … buddy” more than anyone else. When honest trust in fairness and decency collapse, I suppose it makes sense to only believe the openly crooked.
It is strange. People have this attitude that dealing with ATT is just the way things are. But they are outraged that they have to wait a half hour at the DMV. And the funny thing is, I remember going to the DMV when I was a kid. It was horrible. It has gotten better and better (like most of the government) even while people are more and more unhappy with it. Meanwhile, the business community has gotten worse and worse, but they are worshiped more now than ever.
I assume “mary” is an Alex Jones fan. Just a guess, but that didn’t sound quite like Rush Limbaugh ranting.