Primary Results and Battle between Candidates

             On September 14, 2010, the 23rd Congressional District of New York finally found out who would be there candidates for this year's election. The primary results are as follows:

            The race between Matt Doheny and Doug Hoffman proved to be a close one in the Republican primary and remained undecided until this week. A count of absentee ballots and recanvassing of voting machines decided the winner. In the end, party favorite Matt Doheny held on to his lead over challenger Doug Hoffman. According to the New York Times Race Rating, the 23^rd Congressional District is leaning Democrat and according to the FiveThirtyEight Model, there is a 74% chance of a Democratic win. Since Ownes ran uncontested, the real battle during the primaries last week was between Doheny and Hoffman

            How was Doheny able to grasp a small percentage of votes more than Hoffman in the primary election? According to the Watertown Daily Times in July 2010, Doheny was the favorite of 69% of those who voluntarily took a survey disseminated to Republican committee members and area activists. It is interesting to reveal that 53% of respondents said Doheny was “best equipped to unseat Rep. William L. Owens in November.” While these weren’t scientific surveys, it gives us a good indicator of what Republicans in this district are thinking.

            There is one definite area where Doheny excelled above Hoffman which may have given him an edge in the primaries – Doheny’s campaign finances. Matt Doheny finished with $813,214.95 cash on hand, by far the most out of the three. Hoffman, on the other hand, loaned $100,000 to his campaign and took in $13,634.66 on top of that. He spent $77,259.59 and closed with $262,813.08 cash on hand and $205,000 in debt. While these numbers were taken in April, it is clear that Hoffman was struggling with his campaign finances. Did this play a role? Maybe not, but it is interesting to see since party campaigning plays a huge role in elections.

Who is Matt Doheny?

Matt Doheny

            Matt Doheny is a candidate for Congress to represent the 23^rd Congressional District of NY and is currently seeking the endorsements of the Republican, Conservative and Independence Party. So in this race, it looks like it will be a bitter primary battle between Dohney and Hoffman for certain since they are both going after the Republican Party endorsement. While we have seen Owens and Hoffman in the congressional spotlight before, it is going to be interesting to see if their experience will aide them in this year’s election. But who is Matt Doheny?

            According to his biography on his campaign website, Doheny is “not a career politician, but someone whose experience and track record have centered on his career path in the business world." It is discussed that he has the experience needed to “help turn around our nation’s bring much needed jobs to the region.” There is also a lot of controversy surrounding Doheny and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee describe him as an “out of touch Wall Street Insider who has proven only to be looking our for himself.” While that may be some harsh criticism from the DCCC, it is true that Doheny said Social Security needs to be cut and this plan would benefit stock markets. Also, Doheny claims that one of his focuses of his campaign is to “bring much needed jobs to the region,” but his Wall Street company invested in South America instead of the United States. Therefore the jobs he saved were not even in New York but offshore instead. Also, according to the Watertown Daily Times he helped a company that gave bonuses to their executives but fired five hundred workers.

            So is Matt Doheny’s business past going to aide his campaign or will it hinder his efforts? So far, in my opinion, it seems that while Doheny might know how to “bring a large company back from the brink of financial ruin” (according to his biography), he might sacrifice workers and jobs to do so. Therefore, the people of the 23^rd Congressional District of New York might get the exact opposite of what they were promised: “bringing much needed jobs to the region.”

Why is the 23rd Congressional District of New York going to be an interesting election to follow?

            This semester I have chosen to cover the 23^rd congressional district of New York. The three candidates running for this spot in the House is Bill Owens, Doug Hoffman, and Matt Doherny. I believe this is an important race to cover because it looks to be a tight three-way race and is also going to be an interesting election since last year Bill Owens (current holder of the seat in the House for the 23^rd congressional district of NY) got the seat in a special election. Therefore, this will be an important as well as an interesting race to cover throughout the semester.

            Bill Owens is the Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives and is running for re-election this November. On August 10, 2009, the Democratic Party of the 23^rd congressional district of New York chose Owens to run in a special election to fill the House seat that previously belonged to Republican John McHugh, who resigned to take a position as Secretary of the Army. Since Owens was a registered independent at the time, he had to get all 11 signatures of the Democratic county chairs in the district to allow him to run as a Democrat.

            In this 2009 special election, Owens faced Republican Scozzafava and Conservative Party of New York candidate accountant Doug Hoffman (since he lost the republican nomination to Scozzafava).  Two months into the race, Scozzafava dropped out of the race due to insufficient funds as well as not doing so well in the polls (only holding 6% of the vote). After she dropped, Scozzafava showed her support for Owens by stating he was “an independent voice who will put New York first.” This remark put her at odds with the National Republican Committee, which had backed her prior to her withdrawal from the race. Even thought the race between Owens and Hoffman was a tight one, Owens prevailed on Election Day over his sole opponent by a margin of 48.3% to 46%. It will be interesting to see this semester how these previous opponents will do in the coming election as well as new contender Matt Doherny, but it is predicted to be a tight race.