business and killing medicare.
Kathy Hochul
New York's 26th District was so conservative and right wing that no Democrat has stood a chance there for over 40 years. Democrat Kathy Hochul is their new Congressman. The upper 2% may have all the money but the lower 90% have the votes.
In a victory certain to be read by many as a positive omen for House Democrats looking forward to the 2012 general elections and a warning for Republicans, Democrat Kathy Hochul won the closely watched special election to fill a vacant seat in a congressional district that until now has been reliably Republican.
Late in the evening, Hochul was beating Republican Jane Corwin by 6 percentage points, 48 percent versus 42 percent with 87 percent of the precincts reporting. Tea Party movement candidate Jack Davis had 9 percent of the vote.
The race was seen as a referendum on the House Republican Kill Medicare plan associated with Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin that would privatize the popular entitlement program. Republicans have proposed giving future seniors money to purchase health insurance from private insurers.
The proposed changes to the program have proved controversial, raising anxieties in many seniors and middle aged Americans, concerns Democrats have been quick to turn against Republicans.
Hochul was one of those Democrats, riding the Medicare issue all the way to Congress in a race in which she had initially trailed behind her Republican opponent.
Denise Jewell Gee of The Buffalo News reports that in her victory speech, Hochul acknowledged the importance of the Medicare issue. "Yes, we are all future seniors, that's for sure. It's the future seniors they were going after, and we didn't like that did we?"
The vacancy in New York's 26th Congressional District occurred after the former Republican congressman, Chris Lee, resigned after a woman claimed that after making contact with her through a Craig's List personal, the married Lee had sent her photos of himself in which he was shirtless. His misbehavior was pretty tame for a Family Values Republican.
The race took on far more importance than the typical congressional election in a single district. Because it was seen to have become a proxy battle in the larger war over Medicare, both Republican and Democratic groups pumped money into the race to purchase time for TV commercials.
So important was the outcome seen to be that the White House issued a statement from President Obama who is out of the country in Europe:
I want to extend my congratulations to Congresswoman-elect Kathy Hochul for her victory in New York's 26th Congressional District. Kathy and I both believe that we need to create jobs, grow our economy, and reduce the deficit in order to outcompete other nations and win the future. Kathy has shown, through her victory and throughout her career, that she will fight for the families and businesses in western New York, and I look forward to working with her when she gets to Washington.
The victory was sure to give Democrats a much needed psychological boost after the pummeling they took in the
2010 mid-term elections because of the Affordable Care Act and the economy.
But because it was a three-way race Republicans argue that Medicare wasn't the decisive factor in the outcome. Instead they point to third-party candidate Davis, who took nearly a tenth of the vote, as a spoiler.
Nevertheless, the result is a repudiation of the Republican agenda. The last Republican Congressman won with 74% of the vote and it was normal for Democrats to pull less than 30% of the vote in this district. Something has changed and I like it. There are 97 Republicans in Districts far more liberal than this one and their vote for and support of the Paul Ryan Kill Medicare Plan has put them on shakey ground with voters.
Dr. Andrew Bard Schmookler
We congradulate the voters in New York's 26 District on the positive action they have taken to protect the citizens of this country. Here in Virginia's 6th District we need to take the same sort of action. Bob Goodlatte has voted with big business and against average citizens for 20 years. Bob Goodlatte supports the killing of Medicare and has voted against seniors on every issue.
In New York the voters woke up from a 40 year acceptance of second rate republican leadership and the killing of Medicare seems to be the issue that returned them to reality. Well guess who wants to kill your Medicare right here in the 6th. Bob Goodlatte.
You have a choice. Dr. Andrew Bard Schmookler has declared his interest in the 6th District Congressional seat. Dr. Schmookler
sees thru the game Goodlatte is playing and has a sincere desire to give representation to our district. Please make yourself familiar with the Doc and guage his qualifications to represent our district.
Amherst County Democratic Chairman David Burford and Dr. Andrew Bard Schmookler
to visit Dr Schmookler's web site. Follow ACVDN for information when the Doctor will be in our locality. Dr. Schmookler was recently in Lynchburg and we covered his speech. To go directly to our coverage of
Dr. Schmookler holding Q and A after speech
To visit the archive go to the bottom of the page and choose from over 150 articles dating to 2009.
Amherst County Virginia Democratic News
This Idiot is The Majority Leader in the House
Lets look at ending tax breaks for Big Oil. Republicans consider ending a tax break the same thing as raising taxes and Grover won't allow that. The GOP wants the Bush Tax Cuts for the Rich to go on forever. Republicans possess Zero Common Sense.
There were less than 60 votes for the bill so it is defeated and withdrawn and the Republicans got what they wanted, the tax breaks for their friends in big oil continue. Republicans still want to kill Medicare and Pell Grants as they balance the deficit on the backs of seniors and the poor and working class. Republicans must be defeated and removed from office for our Nation to survive. It is past time for republicans to wake up and reject the destruction of the middle class in favor of the rich and big business. Todays GOP has sold out the Republican values of your grandfathers.
This Bill: Repeals five tax subsidies for U.S. oil companies and closes a loophole that oil companies use to disguise foreign royalty payments as taxes and reduce their domestic tax bill. All savings under the bill would be applied to reducing federal budget deficits.
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