New York's 26th congressional district election, 2008
Encyclopedia
New York's 26th district general election of 2008 was held on November 4, 2008. Republican businessman Christopher J. Lee
(R) won the seat running against Democratic lawyer Alice Kryzan (148,607 to 109,615), despite the fact that several analysts rated the race as a toss up or leaning Democratic.
.
Operatives within the party also reportedly tried to recruit several other high-profile candidates, including WIVB-TV
anchor Don Postles, a registered independent, which led to Postles having to issue an on-air rejection of their efforts.
, an Iraq war vet and the endorsed Democratic candidate, as well as wealthy industrialist Jack Davis
. The primary was notable for its large negative ad content, most heavily by self-financed Davis against Powers. Kryzan upset the conventional wisdom with a surprise win, partially on the strength of a last-minute TV ad characterizing the other two candidates as squabbling. A major selling point Kryzan used was that both of her primary rivals were former Republicans.
Powers remained on the Working Families Party
ballot line despite endorsing Kryzan and attempting to get himself removed after having moved out of state. The Republican party brought a lawsuit to prevent the line from being given to Kryzan. However, the presence of Powers on the ballot made no difference to the outcome of the race as the number of votes his ballot line received was much smaller than the margin of victory for Lee.
Christopher J. Lee
Christopher John "Chris" Lee is an American businessman and former U.S. Representative for who served from January 2009 until he resigned on February 9, 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party.-Family, education and business career:...
(R) won the seat running against Democratic lawyer Alice Kryzan (148,607 to 109,615), despite the fact that several analysts rated the race as a toss up or leaning Democratic.
Republican Nomination
Republican Chris Lee was the only candidate running for the party nomination and was endorsed by incumbent Representative Tom ReynoldsThomas M. Reynolds
Thomas M. Reynolds , commonly known as Tom Reynolds, is a politician from the U.S. state of New York, formerly representing the state's 26th Congressional district in the United States House of Representatives...
.
Operatives within the party also reportedly tried to recruit several other high-profile candidates, including WIVB-TV
WIVB-TV
WIVB-TV, virtual channel 4, is the CBS-affiliated television station for Western New York that is licensed to Buffalo. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter on Center Street in Colden. Owned by the LIN TV Corporation, the station is sister to CW...
anchor Don Postles, a registered independent, which led to Postles having to issue an on-air rejection of their efforts.
Democratic Nomination
Alice Kryzan, an environmental attorney, won the Democratic party primary election on Tuesday, September 9th, 2008. She ran against Jon PowersJon Powers
Jonathan Powers, commonly called Jon Powers is an Iraq War veteran and was the Working Families Party nominee for Congress in New York's 26th congressional district. Powers also unsuccessfully ran in the Democratic primary for Congress. Following the campaign, Jon became the Chief Operating...
, an Iraq war vet and the endorsed Democratic candidate, as well as wealthy industrialist Jack Davis
Jack Davis (industrialist)
John "Jack" Davis is an American industrialist and politician from Newstead, New York. He made his fourth bid for New York's 26th congressional district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in the special election held on May 24, 2011. The election was held to fill the seat vacated by...
. The primary was notable for its large negative ad content, most heavily by self-financed Davis against Powers. Kryzan upset the conventional wisdom with a surprise win, partially on the strength of a last-minute TV ad characterizing the other two candidates as squabbling. A major selling point Kryzan used was that both of her primary rivals were former Republicans.
Powers remained on the Working Families Party
Working Families Party
The Working Families Party is a minor political party in the United States founded in New York in 1998. There are "sister" parties to the New York WFP in Connecticut, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Oregon, but there is as yet no national WFP...
ballot line despite endorsing Kryzan and attempting to get himself removed after having moved out of state. The Republican party brought a lawsuit to prevent the line from being given to Kryzan. However, the presence of Powers on the ballot made no difference to the outcome of the race as the number of votes his ballot line received was much smaller than the margin of victory for Lee.
Result
External links
- Race ranking and details from CQ PoliticsCongressional QuarterlyCongressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is a privately owned publishing company that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress...
- Campaign contributions from OpenSecrets.orgCenter for Responsive PoliticsThe Center for Responsive Politics is a non-profit, nonpartisan research group based in Washington, D.C. that tracks money in politics and the effect of money and lobbying activity on elections and public policy and maintains a public online database of its information.Their database...
- Kryzan wins upset in Buffalo-area primary Newsday.com, September 9, 2008