As you may recall, there will be no primary for the NY-20 special election to replace now-Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. The GOP has settled on carpetbagging Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco as their nominee. Meanwhile, the Dem county committees are interviewing six people:
- Suzy Ballantyne, Director of Governmental Affairs for the New York State AFL-CIO
- Tracy Egan, former tv news anchor
- Assemblyman Tim Gordon
- Ron Kim, Kim Commissioner of Public Safety in the City of Saratoga Springs
- Scott Murphy, Managing Director of Advantage Capital Partners
- Carol Schrager, attorney
Full bios are available here. The Times Union says a decision could come as early as today.
UPDATE: The Dems have picked Scott Murphy. (Thanks, JFM110.) Also, here is Scott Murphy‘s website.
But any of them look fine. If Gordon would run as a Democrat he’d probably be the strongest candidate due to being an elected official and the possibility he could get the Independence and Working Families lines in addition. All have very interesting backgrounds though and I’d be pretty happy with any of them.
After checking Cook index on Wikipedia. How worried are you that it could flip?
…I think we stand a better than even chance of retaining it. Gillibrand needs to make a lot of friends right now, so surely she will campaign for the Dem, even though she is now focused on introducing herself to the rest of the state. If she survives her primary, which seems likely, she will be campaigning for a strong showing in her home distict in 2010, which should provide a significant boost to the Dem in the general.
The GOP probably picked the strongest person they could, being the sitting minority leader of the Assembly, but it’s hard to see a Republican legislative record being much of an asset in a district Obama carried after Bush won it big both times.
After reading her wikipedia page, in the issues section, it’s clear that either her campaign or just people in general are editting the page to reflect more liberal policy positions as she’ll be Senator now. I think she’ll be sufficient as a Dem from NY.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes…
We gave them an unnecessary opportunity. Or more accurately, Paterson did.
http://timesunion.com/AspStori…
Hi Folks,
I’m from NY-20 and worked on Kirsten Gillibrand’s 2006 campaign.
I don’t know much about Scott Murphy unfortunately but did want to share what I do know.
http://scottmurphy09.com/
He has not been in the district all that long… which does concern me.
He does have political experience working under two Governors, unfortunately in Missouri.
He is a self-funder but also tapped into his network to receive almost $200k on ActBlue…
http://www.actblue.com/entity/…
… prior to being picked for the job. I am told the average donation is $700 so it is not just a handful of max donors. I am also told that he is friends with or has worked with Kirsten’s husband Jonathan (a real nice guy by the way) and has been promised support from the Gillibrand’s.
I am told his company…
http://www.advantagecap.com/cl…
… works in particular on green investing in underserved communities. He claims a strong record of job creation but I don’t know any particulars on that.
In regard to the other candidates, Tim Gordon is an enrolled Independent but he caucuses with the Democrats and is a good guy all around. I don’t know him well but have had the chance to speak with him several times. He hasn’t been in state assembly for long so my personal opinion is that he needs more experience.
Probably the underdog of the short list was Ron Kim. I have heard nothing but good things about him though and hope to see more from him in the future.
The DCCC is in debt from going all out in the last election… I doubt any of us object to that… so it remains to be seen what they will do here.
I am always surprised by that R+3 ranking for NY-20. Kirsten Gillibrand was the first Democrat elected to Congress here since the end of the VIetnam War when we had a 1-term Democrat. This is a district that sent Gerald Solomon to Congress for years on end before sending slimeball John Sweeney. Before that one Vietnam Era term I think the last time a Democrat represented the district was the civil war.
One of the reasons you didn’t see more elected officials on the short list is that almost all state level elected officials in the district are Republicans. Gordon’s district is half in and half out of the district and he personally lives out of the district.
This will be a tough district to hold but it will also be a pretty good barometer of how dead the Republicans really are. Kirsten won and held this district due to her own incredible hard work and effort. If we retain the district in this special election then I would say that the nation is absolutely, completely and thoroughly fed up with the Republican Party. If we lose the district then it means there are limits to how far the country will go to support Democrats without getting something solid and tangible in return.
We can win this district but it will be very hard and will depend greatly on just how strong a Democrat Mr. Murphy really is. I am waiting to hear his positions. If he runs as Republican-lite then the district will simply elect the real Republican Jim Tedisco.
And believe me, Jim Tedisco is the real thing as far as the modern day Republican is concerned. He is wacko. He is slimy. He is all show and no real substance. He’ll fit right in next to Mean Jean Schmitt and some of the other nut cases that rant and rave from the minority side of the aisle. We do not want Jim Tedisco in Congress. Let’s leave him buried in the less than 1/3 minority in the New York state assembly where he can’t do any harm.
Peace,
Andrew
Stephentown Democratic Chair, Rensselaer County, NY (NY-20)
Paul Bettany
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm007…
announced yet?
He could certainly self fund and his background fundraising for campaigns and building companies likely mean he can raise a lot of outside cash as well. I have no idea how he’s raised 200k on ActBlue already but somehow he has.
http://www.actblue.com/entity/…
So it will be interesting to see what kinds of stands he takes on the issues and what campaign team he puts together but at a glance he looks very impressive. I’ll give him the benefit of a doubt.
Murphy’s a Kewpie, he can handle this.