Democrat grabs seat in House from GOP

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Democrats picked off a heavily Republican upstate New York congressional seat Tuesday in a special election that became a referendum on Medicare and may have blunted further GOP efforts to cut popular entitlement programs as a way to close the federal deficit.

Erie County Clerk Kathy Hochul defeated Republican state Assemblywoman Jane Corwin, capturing 47 percent of the vote to 43 percent for Corwin to win the seat in the 26th Congressional District. A wealthy tea party candidate, Jack Davis, took 9 percent.

The rural-suburban district between Buffalo and Rochester is one of New York’s most conservative and has been held by a Republican – including national names like Jack Kemp – for years. But Corwin saw her early lead dissolve after coming out in favor of a Republican budget plan that would cut billions from Medicare, the government health plan for seniors.

Hochul’s victory gave a lift to Democrats still reeling from an electoral drubbing last November that cost the party control of the House. It also bolstered their resolve to push back on GOP efforts to cut Medicare and other entitlements – efforts that have drawn support among some tea party members but are widely opposed by independent voters.

“The three reasons a Democrat was elected to Congress in the district were Medicare, Medicare and Medicare,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel, D-N.Y., said in an interview.

National leaders were quick to react.

President Barack Obama, traveling in Europe, issued a statement saying he looked forward to working with Hochul.

“Kathy and I both believe that we need to create jobs, grow our economy and reduce the deficit in order to compete with other nations,” Obama said.

Vice President Joe Biden personally called Hochul to offer his congratulations.

Anticipating a tight vote, Corwin won a court order earlier Tuesday to delay certification of a winner until later in the week when absentee ballots could be counted. But with the numbers clearly in Hochul’s favor, Corwin told supporters gathered at storefront in a strip mall outside Buffalo that she had conceded the race.

Hochul said she would work to balance the federal budget but refused to “decimate” Medicare.

“How about ending big handouts for Big Oil?” Hochul said. “How about making millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share?”