By Mark Frost, Chronicle Editor
Two years ago Congresswoman Elise Stefanik trounced Democratic challenger Mike …
By Mark Frost, Chronicle Editor
Two years ago Congresswoman Elise Stefanik trounced Democratic challenger Mike Derrick, 177,886-82,161, to win a second term. Green Party nominee Matt Funiciello drew 12,452 votes.
So is there any reason to believe that Ms. Stefanik can be beaten this November? I believe there are lots of reasons to bolster both sides of the argument.
Democrats are roused for the fight as perhaps they’ve never been before. They’re organized, passionate and determined.
Republicans were tone deaf in Queensbury last November and actually lost control of the town board. If they’re as oblivious more broadly, they’ll be sitting ducks.
Elise Stefanik is seeking her third two-year term in Congress. Photo provided
And while the region is predominantly Republican, the independent-turned-Democrat Bill Owens of Plattsburgh narrowly won the seat three times.
He decided not to run a fourth time, which is when Elise Stefanik won her first term four years ago. So we’ll never know who would have prevailed in an Owens-Stefanik showdown.
6 counties swung: Obama to Trump
Stefanik won her first term in 2014 much more narrowly than her second term. She beat Aaron Woolf, 96,226 to 59,063 (53 percent to 32.5 percent). Green nominee Mr. Funiciello garnered 10.6 percent (19,238 votes).
That was an “off-year” non-Presidential election when turnout was characteristically lower — 181,558 votes were cast in the 2014 Congressional race, compared to 272,499 when Trump won the Presidency and carried the Congressional District.
I expect Democrats here and elsewhere are so fired up now that this November they’ll vote in far greater numbers than usual in an off-year. New voter enrollment efforts are
