Tracy Mitrano Tag

It's hard to know if the contest between incumbent Republican Tom Reed and Democrat challenger Tracy Mitrano in NY-23 is competitive. Cook and a couple of other analysts have moved the race from Safe/Solid Republican to Likely Republican. No one has moved it to toss up or even Lean Republican.

Tracy Mitrano is the Democrat challenger to Republican congressman Tom Reed in my home district, NY-23. The District is mostly rural and conservative, stretching over a huge territory in upstate New York's Southern Tier. The District was created after 2010 redistricting, and is R+6 even though it includes ultra-liberal Ithaca and Tompkins County. The redistricting boundaries, which were drawn by the courts, have left Ithaca liberals feeling isolated and angry in congressional races dominated by the voters with whom liberal Ithacans have little in common.

Siena College Research Institute, based in Loudonville, New York, near Albany, is among the few mainstream polling organizations to poll upstate NY congressional races. Siena recently released polling results for several upstate NY races:

Tracy Mitrano is the Democrat nominee challenging Republican Rep. Tom Reed in New York's 23rd District. While NY-23 includes liberal Ithaca, the district as a whole is R+6, and is considered safe Republican. The district spans a huge, mostly rural, and conservative geography along the Southern Tier of upstate New York.

Republican Congressman Tom Reed's "Extreme Ithaca Liberal" campaign ads may be the best troll job ever. Reed is in NY-23, which includes liberal Ithaca. "Liberal" doesn't fully capture the Ithaca vibe, which I described in November 2008:

Republican Tom Reed represents NY-23, the congressional district that stretches in the Southern Tier of upstate New York along the Pennsylvania border from Corning to Lake Erie in the west. The District includes liberal Ithaca, which before 2010 was in the heavily gerrymandered 22nd District contorted in a snake-like manner to keep far-leftist Maurice "Red" Hinchey in office. After 2010 redistricting, which was done by the judiciary in New York, Ithaca moved to the new 23rd District, which is mostly rural and conservative.