GLENS FALLS, N.Y. — Almost a month after a special election in a heavily Republican congressional district, the Democratic candidate claimed victory Friday when his GOP opponent conceded in a race that focused attention on President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan.
After the March 31 election in New York’s 20th District, Democrat Scott Murphy and Republican Jim Tedisco were separated by a handful of votes with thousands of absentee ballots to be counted. For nearly four weeks, the lead flipped back and forth, but Murphy’s advantage started to grow this week and was more than 400 votes on Thursday.
Murphy, a venture capitalist multimillionaire from Missouri who has lived in New York for more than a decade, is the third straight Democrat to win the seat. He replaces Kirsten Gillibrand, who succeeded Hillary Rodham Clinton in the U.S. Senate after Clinton was chosen to be secretary of state.
Obama’s $787 billion stimulus plan was an issue on the campaign trail.
Tedisco attacked Murphy for supporting the plan, while Murphy criticized Tedisco for refusing to take a stance on the stimulus for most of the campaign, a misstep that hurt the assemblyman.
Tedisco congratulated Murphy and said he’d work with him in his role as a state assemblyman.
"It became clear that the numbers were not going our way,” he said. "In the interest of the citizens of the 20th Congressional District and our nation, I wish Scott the very best.”
by the associated press
After the March 31 election in New York’s 20th District, Democrat Scott Murphy and Republican Jim Tedisco were separated by a handful of votes with thousands of absentee ballots to be counted. For nearly four weeks, the lead flipped back and forth, but Murphy’s advantage started to grow this week and was more than 400 votes on Thursday.
Murphy, a venture capitalist multimillionaire from Missouri who has lived in New York for more than a decade, is the third straight Democrat to win the seat. He replaces Kirsten Gillibrand, who succeeded Hillary Rodham Clinton in the U.S. Senate after Clinton was chosen to be secretary of state.
Obama’s $787 billion stimulus plan was an issue on the campaign trail.
Tedisco attacked Murphy for supporting the plan, while Murphy criticized Tedisco for refusing to take a stance on the stimulus for most of the campaign, a misstep that hurt the assemblyman.
Tedisco congratulated Murphy and said he’d work with him in his role as a state assemblyman.
"It became clear that the numbers were not going our way,” he said. "In the interest of the citizens of the 20th Congressional District and our nation, I wish Scott the very best.”
by the associated press
