Primary Night Aftermath…
by Matt at Sep 10th, 2008
There’s certainly a lot to talk about following the results of Tuesday night’s primary. I’m only going to talk about two things.
First, Sam Hoyt. Are you freaking kidding me!?!? Really, are you freaking kidding me?
Okay, now, I’ve got to talk about NY-26.
Alice Kryzan won. Jon Powers lost.
Rochester Turning asks what happened? I’m gonna give my thoughts and answer the question.
Anyone would agree this campaign was Jon Powers’ to lose, and he lost it big time. He had the support of local party leaders. He had the support of the unions. He had the support of the netroots and the Democrat establishment in Washington. He should have won easily.
But, instead, Jon Powers got sucked into a brutal battle with Jack Davis. They hit each other constantly with negatives ads, leaving Alice Kryzan on the sidelines. Powers and Davis thought the race was between the two them. To a degree that is still true.
I don’t think Alice Kryzan won as much as Jon Powers (and I suppose Jack Davis) lost.
Alice Kryzan did run an incredibly effective ad. Personally, I thought she ran it too late in the campaign to move the race enough in her favor to win. One cannot ignore the significance of the Democrats of NY-26 rejecting the candidate their party leaders chose for them. They not only rejected the recommendation of their party leaders, but they rejected the netroots candidate. Powers touted his so-called grassroots campaign… but clearly it helps to have a grassroots campaign in your own district and not in Washington D.C. and everyone else but your own district.
Politico notes that the Democrat establishment had banked on Powers winning, and Kryzan’s upset victory certainly casts more doubt on the Democrats being able to win the seat.
But, there’s a potential wrench to be thrown in this race by Jon Powers. He did receive the endorsement of the Working Families Party, and is guaranteed a spot on the ballot in November on the Working Families Party line.
The question is, will he continue his campaign until November or not?
According to Monroe Rising, Jon Powers refused to concede, even when the outcome of the race was pretty much settled. What does that mean? We’ll have to wait and see. As of this post, Chris Lee has issued a congratulatory statement to Alice Kryzan. Lee said, “I want to congratulate Alice Kryzan on succeeding in the Democratic primary and invite Alice to join me in discussing the real issues that are important to Western New York.”
Alice Kryzan has emailed her supporters with her declaration of victory. “I am honored that the Democrats of this District have chosen me to represent them in the upcoming general election to be their next representative in Congress.”
I didn’t expect to hear from Davis, but the silence from Jon Powers is deafening. I suspect he is, at this very moment, deciding whether to pack it in, or to fight on as the Working Families Party candidate.
The news of Kryzan’s upset victory has caught some national attention from Politico:
Without their favored candidate, Democrats are a little more circumspect of their chances of picking up this Rochester and Buffalo-area district in November. Even though New York has become a reliable Democratic stronghold, this is one of the most solid GOP districts in the Empire State, giving President Bush 55 percent of the vote in 2004.
Well, it’s past 1:00 AM and I have to go to work in the morning, so I’ll post this now and give more thoughts on the results of this race and a number of others…I assume I’ll also get to react to Powers’ decision to either continue his campaign on the WFP line or to start looking for a new job.
In any case, congrats to Alice Kryzan. She’s going to lose in November, but I can’t help appreciating the upset victory she achieved tonight.
