Democrats picked off a heavily Republican congressional seat in a closely watched bellwether special election that may have blunted further Republican efforts to cut popular entitlement programmes as a way to close the federal deficit.
The result gave Democrats hope that they can recover from last year's drubbing at the polls as they prepare for next year's presidential and congressional elections. Erie County Clerk Kathy Hochul defeated Republican state Assemblywoman Jane Corwin with 47 percent of the vote to 43 percent for Corwin in Tuesday's election to win the seat in the 26th Congressional District in northwestern New York state. A wealthy ultraconservative 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 for years. But Corwin saw her early lead dissolve after coming out in favour of a Republican budget plan that would cut billions from Medicare, the popular government health care plan for seniors
"The three reasons a Democrat was elected to Congress in the district were Medicare, Medicare and Medicare," Rep. Steve Israel, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in an interview. Tuesday's vote won't have an immediate effect on the balance of power in Washington. Republicans still hold a commanding majority in the House of Representatives.
But Democrats hope to use voters' anxiety over Republican proposals to overhaul Medicare to their advantage in November 2012 when all seats in the House and a third of the Senate are on the ballot. President Barack Obama, a Democrat, will also be seeking reelection. Democrats have been reeling from an electoral drubbing last November that cost the party control of the House. Republicans rode voter discontent over the soaring federal deficit, high unemployment and the sputtering economic recovery to sweep to victory in the 2010 elections.