The election to determine who will succeed ex-NY Representative John M. McHugh’s seat at the New York House will be held on November 3rd, laying out a month-long dash for votes in a three-way race.
The election date was set on Tuesday by New York Governor David Paterson so it will happen simultaneously with the regularly scheduled elections of the state.
In the middle of McHugh’s ninth term as the 23rd district’s representative, he vacated his position last September 21. He stepped down from office last week, after being appointed as secretary of the Army.
Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, Bill Owens of the Democrats, and the Republican’s Dede Scozzafava are vying to replace McHugh.
Since the resignation of McHugh, the campaign has heated up. The parties and the candidates began to spend large amounts of money on initial ad buys. Also, local as well as national interest groups are rallying around their favoured candidates.
The Scozzafava’s campaign on Tuesday announced support from local women lawmakers: Assemblywomen Janet Duprey and Teresa Sayward, and Senator Betty Little.
A day after acquiring support of anti-tax group Club for Growth, Hoffman earned the support of the political action committee of the American Conservative Union.
Last week, Owens received the support of a huge organised labour support from the local union, 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. The said union helped swing a March special election in the neighbouring 20th District for Scott Murphy, a Democrat.
Among the three candidates, Scozzafava seems to have the highest visibility due to her decade-long in tenure representing the western half of the district. Also, she may benefit because registered Democrat voters are outnumbered by their Republican counterparts in the 23rd District.
