NY-26: 3 Very Different Candidates in Tight Race

Davis & The Hot Dog Stand

Just before noon at a hot dog stand on Transit Road, millionaire industrialist Jack Davis pulled up in his silver Cadillac with a smile on his face and a handshake for some mildly surprised customers.  Davis is running on a self-created Tea Party ballot line after being turned away by Democrat and Republican Party leaders.  While Davis trails in the few NY-26 polls released so far, he believes it’s his opponents who should worry.

"Washington's on a shopping trip to buy another Congressman from this district,” Davis said while referencing a campaign visit from House Speaker John Boehner up the road from this hot dog stand.  "I'm constantly on one message: saving jobs.  I'm not a Democrat and I'm not a Republican anymore, I am an Independent and they are both running frightened and they can't challenge my background, they can't say I'm being bought, so they tell lies about me.”

Davis ran as a Democrat for this Congressional seat three times before; losing in 2004 and 2006 to Republican incumbent Tom Reynolds and losing in a three-way Democratic primary in 2008.

Corwin & The House Speaker Fundraiser

While Davis shook hands at a hot dog stand it was Republican Assemblywoman Jane Corwin who hosted Speaker of the House John Boehner at an expensive fundraiser barely one mile down the road.  The leader of the Republican Party’s takeover of Congress last fall provides some big-name boost to the Corwin campaign at a time when polls show her holding a vulnerable lead.

Corwin’s event drew past and present Congressional Representatives and hundreds of influential party-faithful from the western portion of the NY-26.  Both Corwin and Boehner spoke of the continued need to cut government spending, lower taxes, and create more jobs. 

"Our country's going in the wrong direction and we need to turn it around and the only way we can do that is by working with other members in government to make it happen,” Corwin said following Boehner’s endorsement. 

Yet, like her opponents, Corwin also managed to find a moment to take a few shots at her opponents.

"I knew it would be interesting with three candidates in the race but I never in a million years could've imagined what a clear difference there would be between me and my two opponents,” Corwin told the crowd.  “Jack Davis and Kathy Hochul, both supported by Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats in Washington, believe government is the answer to our problems.”

Hochul & The Fight For Seniors

As House Speaker Boehner and Candidate Corwin were wrapping up their event at a large restaurant and banquet hall, it was Democrat Kathy Hochul who was hosting seniors just north on Transit Road at her campaign office.  Hochul was announcing an endorsement of her own from the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

In a packed campaign office, Hochul spoke about her pledge to protect Medicare and Social Security benefits for seniors and citizens of all ages.

“The Republican budget would decimate Medicare,” Hochul said to the crowd before fielding questions on her campaign as it enters the final two weeks.

When asked about her opponent’s Transit Road campaign events, Hochul also made it a point to slip in a couple of jabs.

"One of my opponents is meeting with the leader of all this mess?” Hochul said of Corwin’s meeting with Speaker Boehner.  “That is the last person I'd want to be with today in light of what's happened to the people in this room.  So I think that is a difference in priorities and I'm proud to be with the people right here in this room.”