Tuesday marked the GOP Primary for many elections in New York. In a state that normally mirrors something akin to a three-ring circus, Republicans are banking on an anti-incumbent wave to pull them to victory this November. Though polls show that, for the most part, the state will remain a dark shade of Democrat blue.
Despite the scarce chance turning the state over to Republicans, there were two key House races in the New York City area that were interesting to watch. NY-13, which encompasses Staten Island and some parts of Brooklyn, was Republican for many cycles before the district elected a Democrat in 2006. Two Republicans competed in their primary, former Bloomberg aide Michael Allegretti and businessman Michael Grimm, spending most of their time at each other’s throats. Meanwhile, President Bill Clinton stumped for the incumbent, Rep. Michael McMahon, who gathered an impressive war chest. (Grimm later emerged victorious.) Yet this drama pales to that of NY-1, an area that covers most of eastern and central Suffolk county, including the Hamptons. The district is known as a battleground; voting for Bush in ‘04, but Obama in ‘08. This year, however, the partisan division was conflated by a three-way Republican primary.
Randy Altschuler and Christopher Nixon Cox are newcomers to politics. They share similar objectives (“lower taxes,” “send a message to Washington!”) and the two have had considerable success in the private sector. Altschuler, a millionaire businessman, has spent the past year campaigning, receiving support from figures like Rep. Eric Cantor and many local officials. Cox announced his intention to run this past January and his website describes him as a “successful businessman.” He has been endorsed by many conservative institutions like Steve Forbes, NewsMax, Monica Crowley, and Jeb Bush. Yet the two races have had their share of problems, Cox had several advisers walk-out during the summer and Altschuler’s political affiliations with left-wing organizations proved to be destructive to his persona. Both men also resorted to contributing from their own pocket in the past few months.
A third candidate, George Demos, is a former SEC prosecutor. He garnered the support of Rush Limbaugh and many Tea Party members. He earned a reputation as being the “regular guy” in the race, despite his prestigious education and career prosecuting white-collar crime. He critiqued the other two candidates as being the type of “country club” Republicans who the party should expunge.
Though all three men are infinitely more qualified than my Republican candidate in NJ-9, the race was a disaster. After much political infighting and name-calling, Randy Altschuler came out as the lead in the primary while Cox came in last with less than one-third of the vote. Though, in many senses, nobody truly “won” the NY-1 primary. The reputations of all three candidates emerged deeply scathed in some form. This will be a boon to the incumbent, Tim Bishop, who needed all the help he could get this year.
Having met Christopher Nixon Cox on several occasions, I contend that his loss is something of a political tragedy. The thirty-one year old Princeton-educated lawyer and grandson of Richard Nixon has the articulate prose and intellect that could be a viable asset to the party. Cox’s entry turned the race into a big-money national election with donors from across the nation. As a young man with an interest in preserving his future with the GOP, Cox likely had an agenda for vocally taking on the statist policies of the Obama administration on the floor of the House. His clean-cut demeanor and access to virtually bottomless private sector pockets may have even ensured a measure of transparency and, hopefully, a rare ability to avert many special interests. Alas, after being walked out on by a number of advisers and enduring some severe character assassination, one has to question whether running in the 2010 midterm was worth his trouble.
