Ryan: Dems Used 'Scare Tactics' in NY-26

Politico reports:

Tuesday’s special election win by Democrat Kathy Hochul was the result of Democratic scare tactics, and not actually a referendum on the reality of his Medicare plan, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan said in his first comments after the polls closed in Western New York.

“I saw the ads,” Ryan said. “I saw burning people’s Medicare cards. If you can scare seniors into thinking that their current benefits are being affected, that’s going to have an effect. And that is exactly what took place here. So yes, yes, it’s demagoguery, it’s scaring seniors.”

Ryan also chalked up Hochul’s win to the candidacy of Jack Davis, a self-funded candidate who drew more votes than the margin of victory.

“When a Democrat runs as a third party, tea party candidate and spends a couple million dollars, it’s going to have an effect,” Ryan said Wednesday morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

Hochul won a heavily Republican district that was represented by Jack Kemp, Bill Paxon and Tom Reynolds before Chris Lee, who resigned last year after a shirtless photo he posted in a personal ad on Craigslist surfaced.