Democrat Wins New York’s 23rd

David Streeter — November 4, 2009 – 12:10 pm | Congress | Democrats Comments (0) Add a comment

Democrat Bill Owens won the special election in New York’s 23rd congressional district over Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman. Owens’s victory improves the Democrats’ majority in the House of Representatives from 257 to 258 (to the GOP’s 177). The election played out like political theater with an all-star cast of GOP characters trying desperately to retain the seat. However, no amount of right-wing cash or celebrity appearances could sway voters enough to back Hoffman, who received significant support from TEA Party movement. ABC News reports that Robert Gibbs, President Barack Obama’s Press Secretary, said in reference to the TEA Partiers that the result of the race “proves that anger can get you 45% of the vote.”

Also, The Washington Post’s Chris Cilliza writes:

Owens’ victory in the New York 23rd district special election makes five straight wins in contested specials over the past two years for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In 2008, the DCCC won in Illinois’ 14th, Louisiana’s 6th and Mississippi’s 1st. This year, Rep. Scott Murphy (D) won in New York’s 20th. A very impressive record in tough-to-figure-out specials.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) must be thrilled about last night’s results as he looks towards 2010.

Comments

There are no comments for this entry