It's Deja Vu All Over Again in NY-23
In New York’s 23rd congressional district, fighting has broken out between candidates in the GOP primary and the race threatens to be a repeat of the divisive 2009 election that saw a Democrat take the historically Republican district.
In New York’s 23rd congressional district, it’s déjà vu all over again. Internecine fighting has broken out between candidates in the district’s Republican primary, and the race threatens to be a repeat of the divisive 2009 special election that saw a Democrat take a historically Republican district.
On Monday, the Oneida Republican county committee endorsed Matt Doheny, a businessman who lives in the district. This comes on the heels of three endorsements from other Republican county chairs.
Doug Hoffman, who failed to win the Republican nomination in 2009 but then ran on the Conservative Party ticket, has so far failed to receive any local endorsements. Yesterday, his campaign claimed that the Oneida endorsement was another case of backroom establishment deal-making, and that they were never invited to make their case before the Oneida Republican Committee. ‘Doheny uses Scozzafava insider tactics against Hoffman,’ screamed a story headline in the Gouverneur Times.
“They said that they didn’t invite us because we never sent them a letter telling them we were interested,” Rob Ryan, Hoffman’s spokesperson, told FrumForum. “As if the whole world doesn’t know that Doug Hoffman is running for Congress.”
Doheny’s campaign shot back that the endorsement was earned through smart campaign management. “He wasn’t invited to the meeting [on Monday]. Our campaign proactively asked the Oneida county Republican Committee when they were meeting, and Matt went to make his case,” said Doheny’s spokeswoman, Alison Power.
One of the key moments in the disastrous NY-23 special election was when the New York Conservative Party refused to endorse Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava. This, in effect, split the conservative vote between the Republican Party ticket and the Conservative Party ticket.
Once again, the Conservative Party has chosen to back Doug Hoffman. Mike Long, the chairman of the New York Conservative Party, denied that Matt Doheny is insufficiently conservative. But even so, Long says that his party’s endorsement will go to Hoffman.
“I feel that Doug Hoffman has earned the right to have the Conservative Party endorsement,” Michael Long told FrumForum. Asked if there was anything that Doheny could do to earn his party’s endorsement, Long said that “Matt Doheny is a fine young man, [but] there is nothing he can do to get our endorsement.”
With the district split once again between the endorsements of the Conservative Party and Republican county chairs, New York’s 23rd congressional district may very well see a replay of the special election which ultimately led to Democrat Bill Owens' victory.
The Hoffman campaign has returned to flinging accusations at the Republican activists in the district. “I think that the Republican establishment has abandoned their conservative values,” Hoffman’s spokesperson said. “Doheny is with the same leadership who backed Scozzafava. They’re two peas in a pod … It’s clear that the Republican chairs are trying to deny the nomination to Doug Hoffman at all costs.”
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that [Doheny] is conservative enough," responded Doheny’s spokesperson, Alison Power. "We’ve been talking to people with families whose roots in the district go back to the Civil War, with strong conservative values, and they’ve been very supportive,”.
It is no surprise, then, that in the context of this bitter infighting, Charlie Cook’s political report rates the race as ‘lean Democrat’, even though there are more Republicans living in the district.
Without a swift resolution, or at least a more civil primary season, NY-23 may have to go through another round of painful blood-letting.