New York's 20th congressional district election, 2006

New York's 20th congressional district election, 2006

November 7, 2006 (2006-11-07)

Nominee Kirsten Gillibrand John E. Sweeney Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 125,168 110,554 Percentage 53.1% 46.9%

Representative before election John E. Sweeney Republican Elected Representative Kirsten Gillibrand Democratic

Elections in New York State
Federal government Presidential elections 1792 1796 1800 1804 1808 1812 1816 1820 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 Presidential primaries Democratic 2004 2008 Republican 2004 2008 2012 United States Senate elections 1789 1791 1795 1797 1801 1803 1807 1809 1813 1815 1819-20 1821 1825-26 1827 1831 1833 1837 1839-40 1843 1845 1849 1851 1855 1857 1861 1863 1867 1869 1873 1875 1879 1881 1885 1887 1891 1893 1897 1899 1903 1905 1909 1911 1964 1980 1986 1988 1992 1994 1998 2000 2004 2006 2010 2012 House of Representatives elections 1789 1790 1793 1794 1796 1796 1798 1800 1802 1804 1806 1808 1810 1812 1814 1816 1818 1821 1822 1824 1826 1854 2002 2004 2006 13th 20th 29th 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 Special elections to the United States Congress 20th district, 2009 23rd district, 2009 Senate, 2010 26th district, 2011 9th district, 2011 11th district, 2015 List of House special elections
State government New York gubernatorial elections 1777 1780 1783 1786 1789 1792 1795 1798 1801 1804 1807 1810 1813 1816 1817 1820 1822 1824 1826 1828 1830 1832 1834 1836 1838 1840 1842 1844 1846 1848 1850 1852 1854 1856 1858 1860 1862 1864 1866 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1879 1882 1885 1888 1891 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1942 1946 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Attorney General elections 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 State Comptroller elections 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 State Assembly elections 99th district, 2006 State elections by year 1811 1844 1846 1847-J 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1870–J 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1900 1902 1903 1904 1906 1907 1908 1910 1912 1913 1914 1916 1917 1918 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1926 1927 1928 1930 1932 1933 1934 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1942 1943 1944 1946 1949 1950 1952 1953 1954 1956 1958 1959 1960 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1972 1973 1974 2002 2006 2008 2009 2010 2012
New York City Characteristics of NYC mayoral elections Mayoral elections 1917 1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 Public Advocate elections 2009 2013 Comptroller elections 2009 2013 Borough president elections 2013 The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island
Buffalo Mayoral elections 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013
Syracuse Mayoral elections 2009

The New York 20th congressional district election for the 110th Congress was held on November 7, 2006. Incumbent John E. Sweeney was the nominee for the Republican Party, while attorney Kirsten Gillibrand was the nominee for the Democratic Party. Gillibrand defeated Sweeney with 53% of the vote.

Another candidate, Morris Guller, attempted to run in the general election on the Liberal Party line and also tried to contest Kirsten Gillibrand in the September Democratic primary, but did not file petitions for either nomination. Eric Sundwall filed petitions to run as the Libertarian candidate but was removed from the ballot when his petitions were ruled inadequate.

Republican

Incumbent John Sweeney was running for reelection, although a newspaper reported in March 2006 that "Speculation has mounted over the past week regarding U.S. Rep. John Sweeney’s future. Rumors are flying that the Clifton Park Republican might not seek re-election this fall. Between his health, his son’s guilty plea to assault charges, a serious Democratic challenger, the DOJ pulling his financial filings and the Congressional Winter Challenge uproar,^[1] Sweeney is under a lot of stress and has been for a while".^[2]

No Republican filed to challenge Sweeney, although there was speculation earlier in 2006 that Alexander Treadwell of Lake Placid, Essex County, a Republican political leader and an ally of Governor George E. Pataki, would do so. State Senator Elizabeth Little of Queensbury, Warren County, had also been mentioned as a possible Republican contender should Sweeney not run.

Over 40% of Sweeney's funding in this election cycle was from political action committees (PACs).^[3]

Democratic

The Democratic nominee was Kirsten Gillibrand, a native of Albany, who lives in Hudson. She had faced a primary challenge from three other Democratic candidates (computer engineer Edwin Pell, retired probation officer Douglas Walters, and activist Morris Guller), but all three dropped out of the race prior to the filing deadline.

Gillibrand supports middle class tax cuts and has a proposal to let middle-class parents deduct up to $10,000 a year in college tuition. She supports changes to the GI Bill. Gillibrand's has proposed, as a short term solution for high gasoline prices, eliminating the federal tax on gas, with lost revenue from the tax being recouped by ending subsidies for oil companies. She has issued an ethics proposal which includes an "Ethics IOU" to the voters.

In the fundraising quarter ending June 30, 2006, her campaign raised more money than did Sweeney's.

Other parties

Libertarian Party

Eric Sundwall was the endorsed candidate of the Libertarian Party.^[4] He is a partner and co-founder of Old Kinderhook Integrated, a computer consulting company. His campaign attracted national attention and is the second largest Libertarian Congressional candidacy in the country (based on FEC filings) behind only Michael Badnarik, the 2004 Libertarian Presidential candidate and 2006 Congressional candidate in Texas.

Sundwall received a degree in Political Science and History from the State University of New York at Albany. He studied in Copenhagen and worked with the Internet's first accredited law school, Concord. He currently serves on the New York and national Libertarian Party committees.

As a third party candidate, Sundwall hoped to raise awareness about ballot access rights. Sundwall called on Congress to "declare war" according to the U.S. Constitution when invading any nation.

Sundwall's petitions were challenged on August 28 by three individuals with no obvious connection to the race. In an interesting twist, Sundwall was represented pro bono on these challenges by Warren Redlich, an attorney in Albany and the Republican candidate for Congress in New York's 21st congressional district.

The Board of Elections determination held that Sundwall was 690 signatures short of the 3500 required by New York State election law. Sundwall's campaign challenged the New York Board of Elections in Federal District Court on October 10, 2006. Sundwall et al. v. Kelleher et al., sought a Temporary Restraining Order on the distribution of the NYS ballot claiming the 'town' requirement in the Independent designating petition as unconstitutional. Sundwall's complaint was denied by Judge Thomas Kahn.

Liberal Party

Morris N. Guller, a political activist and retired stockbroker from Greene County was endorsed by the New York State Liberal Party and attempted to challenge Gillibrand, Sweeney, and Sundwall on the Liberal line in the November general election. However, state records from August 27, 2006 show that Guller did not file petitions to run as the Liberal Party candidate.^[5]

Guller earlier attempted to challenge Kirsten Gillibrand in the September Democratic primary, but dropped out a day before the filing deadline. In 2004, Guller ran against Sweeney on the independent Centrist Party line.

Independence Party

On July 13, 2006, both Gillibrand and Sweeney filed petitions to be listed on the Independence Party line on the November ballot. The Sweeney campaign challenged the number of valid signatures on the Gillibrand petitions, and ultimately the state Board of Elections ruled she did not have enough valid signatures, and gave the Independence Party line to Sweeney.^[6]

General campaign

In mid-August, residents of the 20th Congressional District reported receiving a telephone call that some described as a “push-poll. The call included extremely negative questions about Gillibrand. When pushed by respondents to identify who was doing the poll, the callers provided a phone number that led to Western Wats, a Utah-based research group that does data collection. A Western Wats worker told the Albany Times Union that the poll was commissioned by The Tarrance Group, a national Republican polling firm that does a lot of work for the National Republican Congressional Committee. Sweeney’s campaign insisted it had nothing to do with the poll.^[7]

Sweeney had visits to his district for fundraising and support by First Lady Laura Bush, Senator John McCain, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Gillibrand was supported by a visit by former President Bill Clinton in late October,^[8] and a visit by Senator Hillary Clinton.

Election

On November 7, 2006 Gillibrand defeated Sweeney 53%-47%.

Gillibrand benefited from gaffes by the Sweeney campaign, including the report of a domestic violence incident between the Congressman and his wife, as well as the statewide landslide victories of Eliot Spitzer and Hillary Clinton in New York's Gubernatorial and Senate race. Both Spitzer and Clinton won all the counties in the 20th district. Gillibrand defeated Sweeney in all the major population centers in the district, including Saratoga Springs, Troy, Rensselaer and Dutchess County. Gillibrand lost only rural and sparsely populated Delaware and Greene Counties to Sweeney.

Polls

Critics have argued that the Siena College poll had significant flaws; if so, Sweeney would still have been ahead of Gillibrand, but not as far. An August Siena College poll showed rather similar results^[10] .^[12] Sundwall was excluded from the Siena poll because his independent nominating petition was filed after the poll was taken . A DCCC poll taken in the days before the election showed Gillibrand beating Sweeney 44-42.

Results

Notes

1. ↑ syracuse.com: We've Moved!
2. ↑ The 10,000 Things: Sweeney out? Treadwell in?
3. ↑ John E. Sweeney: Campaign Finance/Money - Contributions - Congressman 2006
4. ↑ Eric Sundwall
5. ↑ http://www.elections.ny.gov/reports/rwservlet?cmdkey=whofiled
6. ↑ Story not found - StoryID: 505191 - Times Union - Albany NY
7. ↑ New York Politics Capitol Confidential : Albany Times Union : timesunion.com : Capitol confidential » Mystery Poll In the 20th (Updated)
8. ↑ Tim O'Brien, " Political foes pull out stops: Ex-president backs Gillibrand; Sweeney touts AMD in Malta", Times-Union, October 27, 2006
9. ↑ http://www.poststar.com/media/X05-16.pdf
10. 1 2 http://www.siena.edu/sri/results/2006/20th_Cong_Poll.htm
11. ↑ http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/NY%20CD%2020%20August%20Survey%20Results.pdf
12. ↑ News Copy, New York: 20th Congressional District
13. ↑ "2006 Election Results". New York State Board of Elections. 2006-12-14. Retrieved 2011-01-26. 

External links

• John Sweeney's Campaign Site
• Kirsten Gillibrand's Campaign Site
• Morris N. Guller's Campaign Site
• Edwin Pell's Campaign Site
• NY 20th Congressional Race at Daily Kos
• Eric Sundwall's Campaign Site
• List of top contributors to Sweeney.
• Contributions to Sweeney's campaign, by sector.