A state senate race in a normally safe Democratic district in New York has Democrats worried. (h/t reader Tom)
Down to the wire in too-close-to-call Southern Brooklyn Senate race (emphasis mine):
The too-close-to-call state Senate race in southern Brooklyn was down to the wire Wednesday, with Republican David Storobin holding a slim lead over Democrat Lew Fidler.Final results in the race to replace disgraced Sen. Carl Kruger hinge on hundreds of absentee and paper ballots that will be counted next week, and both camps claimed victory. As of 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Storobin held a lead of 143 votes.The close tally reflected a strong showing by Storobin, a lawyer, against Fidler, a City Councilman who had been considered the favorite. It capped an all out effort by Republican activists to repeat the upset scored by Rep. Bob Turner on much of the same southern Brooklyn turf.Many Fidler supporters may have assumed he was a shoo-in, but the race grew tighter as Storobin, who immigrated as a child from the Soviet Union , gained support in Russian neighborhoods and among socially conservative Orthodox Jews who were inundated with attacks against Fidler.“We had an overwhelming outpouring of support in the district from rabbis in the Orthodox community to Russian immigrants who identify very strongly with David,” said Storobin spokesman David Simpson.The unexpected tight race in a district that is heavily Democratic is the latest bad news for Senate Democrats in their efforts to reclaim the majority this fall.“It’s a bad omen,” said Sen. Diane Savino (D-Staten Island) “We should not be having to compete for races in Brooklyn. It’s the most Democratic county in the state.”
Blogger Orthodox Pundit (!) says it reflect anti-incumbent sentiment:
I think that on the Orthodox front, more than anything, the last few elections showed that there is a strong anti-establishment mood in the Orthodox community. There is an insurgent segment that hates the inevitability mantle created by politicians around their candidates.
I think this is a good omen for November.
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