G.O.P. Candidate Drops Out of NY-23 Congressional Race

Re: Important Races to Watch - NY-23

Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava suspended her campaign in the special election for a congressional seat in upstate NY. As we discussed in class, Scozzafava was facing two other major candidates: Democrat Bill Owens and Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.

Owens and Hoffman previously held approval ratings near 35%, but the withdrawal of Scozzafava should theoretically boost Hoffman's support as the RNC now supports the Conservative candidate, and Hoffman's campaign "will receive the financial backing of the R.N.C. and get-out-the-vote efforts to defeat Bill Owens on Tuesday.”

The New York Times reports that some Republicans think that "Ms. Scozzafava’s decision..[is] likely to encourage conservatives going into next year’s midterm elections, raising the prospect of more primaries against Republican candidates that they deem too moderate." Under this view, Scozzafava's withdrawal is "a clear victory for conservatives in the [Republican] party at a time when there has been a pitched battle among party leaders over whether Republicans needed to change their ideological appeal."