From The Hill:
Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.) is expected to announce this week that he will not seek reelection, according to two sources.
The announcement could come as early as Tuesday but is expected before Congress adjourns for its Memorial Day recess at the end of this week.
It is unclear if Fossella will finish out his term or opt to resign before the end of the 110th Congress. One source said he will complete his sixth term.
As nrafter530 writes in the diaries, expect a full-court press to ensue for a Staten Island-based pol like state Sen. Diane Savino, Assemblyman Mike Cusick, or NYC Councilman Mike McMahon to run for the Democrats in this D+0.8 district.
SSP currently rates this race as a “Tossup“.
UPDATE (David): The AP is saying the same thing.
UPDATE II (James): It’s official — Fossella will retire at the end of his term. The Politico has Fossella’s statement.
UPDATE III: Elizabeth Benjamin picks up buzz that Councilman Domenic Recchia (D-Coney Island) will drop out of the race:
On the Democratic side, a source confirms the rumor that Councilman Domenic Recchia is NOT expected to follow through with his nascent bid for Fossella’s seat, despite the fact that he is sitting on some $325,000.
Recchia is apparently friendly with Savino and McMahon, so this could be a sign that one of these candidates is planning a bid.
If in 2008 we have an even bigger wave than in 2006? Well we can now add one more potential seat to the mix. The only problem is that with all the special election victories, there might not be many seats left to win!
Republican candidate interviews are currently scheduled for May 22. These determine who gets the party support and gets their petitions carried. June 3 starts the petitioning cycle to get on the ballot. Look for DA Donovan to be the clear front runner on the Republican side. The only excitement would come if Sen. Lanza challenges him with Fossella’s backing. While Fossella’s standing may have diminished, he has essentially put all the Republicans into office in Staten Island and has a strong machine backing.
who has covered this district better and more comprehensively than anyone over the years at his NY-13 blog, has an excellent bounty of facts, figures, maps and bios of potential candidates on both sides up at the albany project. a really great resource for anyone blogging about tonight’s developments or for those who just want to know more about the road ahead in NY-13.
Recchia dropping sounds like the DCCC got a top recruit.
Vito Fossella had less than half the cash on hand of any other Republican in a seat with a Cook PVI of D+1 or better ($248,946 to Bill Young’s $555,655 in FL-10). He was a dead man walking.
The GOP is reduced to this:
Three of their six seats open with no candidate and no funds raised.
Randy Kuhl ($365,723) trailing Eric Massa by $200 K in an R+5 seat he barely held on to last cycle.
John McHugh succeeding Vito as the national poorest of the Republican poor albeit in a R+0.2 seat rather than a D+1 at $261,898. Michael Oot is at just $15,415 but given the DCCC cash this one’s at least partially in play. All Oot needs is one good poll and the faucet is on and the money starts flowing.
Finally, finally, there’s Peter King. King looks like Mt. McKinley (or is it Peak’s Peak) among NY Republicans. He actually has a normal cash amount for an incumbent Republican ($802,834, the average for a GOP incumbent , R+6 through D+7, is $819,234). King has no opponent yet and presumably the Democrats in the state look like they will be busy elsewhere. While Oot is one good poll away, King is one hot candidate away from being in a race. This is R+2 territory.
One more: only Sandy Treadwell has raised significant money to challenge one of the three seats Democrats won in 2006 and Kirsten Gillibrand has him outraised by more than 2-1.
Cue the Queen music on election night, folks.
McHugh and the odious King.
By 2010 (after redistricting) we may just have ZERO Pubs from New York.
AWESOME.
looks like you want this article by Liz Benjamin
And then there were three!