Bob Turner won the race for the Congressional seat vacated by Anthony Weiner. (Oh, what a night.)
Redistricting in NY State looks to eliminate his district, something that was anticipated even before Turner’s victory.
So Turner is striking back, and has just announced plans to run against Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, via Roll Call:
New York Rep. Bob Turner (R), whose upset special election victory last September rocked the political world, announced today he would mount a long-shot bid for Senate against popular Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D).“I will travel to the Republican State Convention in Rochester later this week and humbly ask for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate,” Turner said in a statement. “There is serious work to be done to get this economy back on track, and I will not walk away from that work now. I will run for the Senate, and I will run to win.”In a Democratic state in a presidential election year, Turner faces an extremely steep uphill battle in unseating Gillibrand, should he get the GOP nomination. But he’s managed to upset conventional wisdom once before. Turner won the special election last fall to succeed scandal-plagued ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner in a Democratic-leaning district.A redrawn N.Y. map was released late Monday night that appears increasingly likely to become law. Under those lines, Turner’s district was essentially eliminated, leaving him no shot at being a House Member in the 113th Congress.
Gillibrand was extremely vulnerable in 2010, but Republicans couldn’t find a top tier candidate to run against her (both Rudy and former Gov. Pataki declined). Now she’s in a stronger position, but don’t count Turner out.
Gillibrand is no Chuck Schumer, she’s not solidified her Senator-for-Life (her life, not “for Life”) status.
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