Some hot topics for a cold Sunday:
• Back in 2000 as Hillary Clinton was wrapping up her “listening tour” in preparation for a U.S. Senate candidacy, Republicans were suddenly scrambling. New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani had emerged as a formidable opponent to the then-first lady, and was ready to go.
But the mayor developed cancer, scuttling his plans and sending the GOP searching for a replacement.
Congressman Jack Quinn of Hamburg began to enter the conversation, especially as a Republican who had already demonstrated “crossover” appeal in an overwhelmingly Democratic district.
A Quinn candidacy made sense for lots of reasons – except for one: money. For years, GOP Congressman Rick Lazio of Long Island had been stoking his campaign coffers waiting for just such a moment, and Quinn got left behind (with lots of “what ifs?” that will always remain unanswered).
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The scenario prompts similar thinking this week, even if reapportionment poses different circumstances for former State Sen. Cathy Young of Olean. She seemed poised for near unanimous GOP backing to run in the new 23rd Congressional District now largely represented by the retiring Congressman Tom Reed, R-Corning.
After a failed bid for minority leader, Young left the Senate in 2019 to head the Cornell University facility in Geneva. But Republican leaders in the Southern Tier remained bullish about her popularity and electability. On the morning the new districts were unveiled, Young seemed like the shoo-in for the nomination and election in November.
By that afternoon, however, things changed. Congresswoman Claudia Tenney came charging southward from her Utica-area base, with about $1.1 million in her campaign saddlebags. A 23rd District campaign will take lots of money for TV advertising on stations in Buffalo, Elmira and Binghamton, maybe Rochester and Syracuse too. Tenney had money; Young didn’t. End of story.
And oh, yes – that guy in Mar-a-Lago weighed in too, On Wednesday former President Donald Trump offered Tenney his “Complete and Total Endorsement,” the exact capitalized words he used in 2020 to assure a primary win for Republican candidate Chris Jacobs in the current 27th District.
Money and a “Complete and Total Endorsement” triumphed in this round of reapportionment, But like Quinn, Young will always ponder the “what ifs?”.
• New York State Democrats gather at the Sheraton Towers in Manhattan Thursday to endorse a statewide slate of Gov. Kathy Hochul, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Attorney General Tish James and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. The big question will center around gubernatorial hopefuls Tom Suozzi and Jumaane Williams. Can they garner enough convention support to make the primary ballot without circulating petitions?
• Upon their return, Erie County Democrats will stage a major fundraiser Friday night featuring Hochul in a virtual appearance at the Chairman’s Council event. It’s good to be an Erie County Democrat when the governor is from Buffalo.
• Chairman Jeremy Zellner says he expects his Democrats to cross-endorse Republican Kevin Carter for Family Court this year, a rare African American on the local bench who is administrative judge of the Eighth Judicial District.
• Still on Erie County Dems, Zellner may be settling on Evans Supervisor Mary Hosler to oppose incumbent Mickey Kearns for clerk this year. A former banker who helped stabilize a troubled financial situation in Evans, Democrats like their chances with Hosler against Kearns – a registered Dem who regularly runs on the Republican line (and whom they love to hate).
• Those crafty Democrats controlling reapportionment will now send Republican State Sen. Pat Gallivan on the campaign trail through deepest, darkest, Democratic Cheektowaga after all those years in ruby red turf. Still, Gallivan has a peculiar habit of winning in Democratic areas. If the Dems offer a strong opponent, it will signal their belief it can be done.
