Nita Lowey has 62 percent of the vote with more than half of districts reporting. http://portchester.patch.com/articles/lowey-looks-to-12th-term-russell-fares-better-than-last-run
ELECTIONS
Lowey Looks to 12th Term; Russell Fares Better than Last Run
Jim Russell is used to being a sacrificial candidate in a district the state GOP considers unwinnable.
In 2008, incumbent Democrat Nita Lowey took a lopsided race with 68 pecent of the vote.
But there's an interesting story in the numbers playing out tonight – with almost 60 percent of the districts reporting, Russell is on course to outperform his 2008 effort by six percent.
That's surprising, considering Russell's campaign has been marked by controversy ever since a Politico columnist dug up a decade-old essay in which the candidate endorsed eugenics, among other things.
If the numbers hold through all remaining districts, the question is: Why did Russell make a slightly larger dent in Lowey's armor despite the scandal that plagued his campaign?
Two possible answers: Voters were casting their ballots down party lines, or – a more likely explanation – that six percent slide could represent the residual backlash against incumbents and the rise of the Tea Party. In other words, maybe any candidate would have fared better against Lowey this time around, given the national climate.
While the rhetoric and blacklash has been amplified elsewhere, with the exception of Carl Paladino's campaign, it's been muted here in New York. Lowey, who will go on to a 12th term, was never really threatened by the anti-incumbent or anti-Democrat sentiment sweeping other states.
So perhaps it's a wise choice that the state GOP didn't invest its resources in opposing Lowey this time around – if the Tea Party/anti-incumbent sentiment only sliced off six percent of Lowey's tally while other Democrats lost their seats to the same wave, it's difficult to imagine Lowey would be vulnerable, even if her opponent didn't have his own controversy to deal with.
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