A 2011 special election in New York's 26th congressional district was held on May 24, 2011 to fill a seat in the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

for

New York's 26th congressional district The 26th congressional district of New York is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives in Western New York. It includes parts of Erie and Niagara counties. The district includes the cities of Buffalo, Lackawa ...

. The seat had been vacated due to the February 2011 resignation of married Rep. Chris Lee, who left office amid a scandal involving flirtatious emails and a shirtless picture he sent to a woman he met on

Craigslist Craigslist (stylized as craigslist) is an American classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, Gig worker, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums. Craig Newmark ...

. Four candidates competed in the election: Republican Assemblymember

Jane Corwin Jane Lewis Corwin (born February 29, 1964) is an American politician and businesswoman who currently serves a Commissioner of the International Joint Commission for United States and Canada. She previously served as a Republican Party member of ...

; Democrat Erie County Clerk

Kathy Hochul Kathleen Hochul ( ; née Courtney; born August 27, 1958) is an American politician serving as the 57th governor of New York since August 24, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she is New York's first female governor, as well as the firs ...

; Green Party candidate Ian Murphy, editor of the

Buffalo Beast ''The Beast'' was a Buffalo, New York alternative biweekly print newspaper published from 2002 until 2009 and then exclusively online until about 2013. ''The Beast'' was founded by Matt Taibbi, Kevin McElwee, and Paul Fallon in 2002. (Taibbi ...

; and independent candidate Jack Davis, a businessman running on the Tea Party line. On Election Day, Hochul won an upset victory, prevailing over Corwin by a margin of 47.24%-42.28%; Davis received 8.99% of the vote.

Procedure

Under New York election law, special elections to fill vacant offices were held between 30 to 40 days of their announcement by the governor. In March 2011, at the initiative of Governor Cuomo and with the approval of the state legislature, the campaigning period was more than doubled, with the reason given that U.S. military serving overseas needed the extra time to receive and send back their ballots. The ''Capitol Confidential'' noted that the federal government had sued for the extension for the military and predicted that the change might also "shift... political tactics during the pecial electioncampaigns, which because of their short duration favor wealthy candidates and 'air wars'. Once the governor called the election, county chairpersons from each of the six

qualified New York parties In New York State, to qualify for automatic ballot access, a party must have qualify every two years by receiving the greater 130,000 votes or 2% of the vote in the previous gubernatorial election or presidential election.Medicare" because of Corwin's support for the Republican alternative budget proposed by

Paul Ryan Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is an American former politician who served as the List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 54th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019. A member o ...

(R-Wis.), a proposal that would replace government-provided health care with partial subsidies for the cost of private medical insurance. Hochul criticized the Ryan plan and supports the

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presi ...

, which Corwin wants to repeal completely. Davis opposed both the Ryan plan and the Affordable Care Act.

Tea Party involvement

The local leaders of the

Tea Party movement The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2009. Members of the movement called for lower taxes and for a reduction of the national debt and federal budget defic ...

had divided their support between Republican nominee Jane Corwin, independent petitioner Jack Davis, and potential candidate

David Bellavia David Gregory Bellavia (born November 10, 1975) is a former United States Army soldier who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Second Battle of Fallujah. Bellavia has also received the Bronze Star Medal, two Army Commendation ...

. Jim Ostrowski, the leader of a libertarian-leaning tea party group (the Tea Party Coalition of WNY), endorsed Davis, criticizing Corwin for her lack of outreach to the Tea Party groups, and arranged to put the name "Tea" on Davis's ballot line. TEA New York, a more mainstream Republican-leaning tea party group, was divided between Bellavia and Corwin, with several of its members backing Bellavia's ultimately unsuccessful petition campaign and others (the best known being gubernatorial nominee Carl Paladino) backing Corwin from the beginning. After Bellavia failed to get onto the ballot, TEA New York endorsed Corwin. TEA New York refused to consider cross-endorsing Davis, mainly because of the use of the name "Tea Party" on Davis's ballot line (a tactic the Tea Party Coalition also used in the 2010 elections), to which he and numerous other Tea Party groups objected. TEA New York, the

Tea Party Express The Tea Party Express is a California-based group founded in the summer of 2009 to support the Tea Party movement. Founded as a national bus tour to rally Tea Party activists, the group's leadership also endorses and promotes conservative candida ...

and numerous other Tea Party groups campaigned on behalf of Corwin and attempted to portray Davis as a "fake Tea Party" candidate.

Candidates

Democratic

Erie County Clerk

was unanimously selected by local Democratic Chairs to be their special election candidate on March 19, 2011. Other candidates interviewing for the party nomination included Jane Bauch, former Democratic Party Chair of the town of Murray; Mark Manna, Amherst town councilor; Martin Minemeier, a corrections officer from Henrietta; Satish Mohan, former Amherst town supervisor; Robert Stall, a geriatrician from Tonawanda; and Diana Voit, a resident of Erie County.

Republican

Assemblywoman

was selected as the party nominee the evening of February 21, 2011. Corwin had been considered the likely Republican candidate almost immediately following Lee's resignation. Other candidates interviewing for the party nomination included

, author and Iraq war soldier; Jack Davis, Amherst businessman and three-time Democratic candidate for the same seat;Wolcott, Bill (February 21, 2011)
Eight Republicans line up for Lee's seat
''Lockport Union-Sun & Journal''. Retrieved May 22, 2011. Brian Napoli, Ridgeway town supervisor; Peter O'Brien, U.S. Navy veteran; Barry Weinstein, Amherst town supervisor and former county legislator; Kathy Weppner, talk show host on WBEN; and Gary Wheat, former Avon council member.

Conservative

The

Conservative Party of New York State The Conservative Party of New York State is an American political party founded in 1962 following conservative dissatisfaction with the Republican Party in New York. Running on the Conservative Party line, James L. Buckley won election to the U ...

endorsed Republican nominee Jane Corwin on March 14.Jagow, Allison (March 14, 2011)
, newswell, text, FRONTPAGE, p Corwin Endorsed By Three Parties For Special Election

WGRZ WGRZ (channel 2) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Delaware Avenue in downtown Buffalo, and its transmitter is located on Warner Hill Ro ...

. Retrieved March 14, 2011. Bellavia and Davis also sought the line.

Working Families

The

Working Families Party The Working Families Party (WFP) is a minor political party in the United States, founded in New York in 1998. There are active chapters in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Nev ...

endorsed Democratic nominee Kathy Hochul on March 20.

Independence

The

Independence Party of New York The Independence Party is a political party in the U.S. state of New York. The party was founded in 1991 by Dr. Gordon Black, Tom Golisano, and Laureen Oliver from Rochester, New York, and acquired ballot status in 1994. They lost their ballot ...

endorsed Republican nominee Jane Corwin on March 14.

Green

The

Green Party of New York The Green Party of New York is the affiliate of the Green Party of the United States in the U.S. state of New York. It was founded in 1992 and is a part of the Green Party movement. The Party has had ballot access at various points in its histo ...

, in the first election since 2002 in which the party has automatic ballot access, nominated Ian Murphy, editor of the

, as its candidate on March 23, 2011.

Tea Party

On March 21, Jack Davis, who had also been rejected in his bid for the Republican, Conservative and Democratic endorsements, filed approximately 12,000 petition signatures, more than triple the necessary number, and was on the ballot on the Tea Party line. Davis spent $2.5 million of his own money on his campaign. Jim Ostrowski, the unofficial proprietor of the "Tea Party" line, later stated after the election that he believed

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...

, and later New York State Assemblyman,

David DiPietro David J. DiPietro (born June 22, 1960) is a Republican member of the New York State Assembly representing Assembly District 147, which comprises the southern halves of Erie County, New York and Wyoming County, New York. Early life and career D ...

was the best candidate for the seat, but did not believe DiPietro had the resources to run an effective campaign and had "almost given up" on running a serious candidacy until aligning himself with Davis.

Rejected petition

, who had tried but failed to receive party endorsement, attempted to launch an independent campaign. Bellavia submitted approximately 3,600 signatures under the "

Federalist Party The Federalist Party was a Conservatism in the United States, conservative political party which was the first political party in the United States. As such, under Alexander Hamilton, it dominated the national government from 1789 to 1801. De ...

" line. His petitions were challenged by a local resident. In addition, Bellavia had failed to submit an affidavit formally accepting the nomination. Consequentially, Bellavia did not receive a ballot position, and the petition challenge was rendered moot. Bellavia eventually endorsed Davis for the seat.

Polling

* Commissioned by the Hochul campaign * Commissioned by

Daily Kos Daily Kos ( ) is a group blog and internet forum focused on the U.S. Democratic Party and liberal American politics. The site includes glossaries and other content. It is sometimes considered an example of "netroots" activism. Daily Kos was f ...

and the

SEIU Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing almost 1.9 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States and Canada. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare (over half of members ...

Results

The race was called for Hochul by multiple local and national news organizations, including the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

, at about 10 p.m. EDT, an hour after polls closed and after a majority of votes had been counted. Corwin conceded the race that evening. Hochul prevailed over Corwin by a margin of 47.24%-42.28%, with Tea Party candidate Jack Davis receiving 8.99% of the vote. Hochul's victory was viewed as an upset. While Republicans contended that Davis had taken votes away from Corwin and acted as a spoiler, DailyKos and Slate asserted that this contention was contradicted by polling data.

References

External links

Jane Corwin for Congress

Kathy Hochul for Congress

Jack Davis for Congress

Ian Murphy Can Has Congress
{{New York elections 26th congressional district special election New York 26 2011 26 special New York 2011 26 New York 26 United States House of Representatives 2011 26