Dems Lose Seat Held Since 1923

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/us-house-race-in-new-york-weprin-turner-20110913-apx

Turner Beats Weprin For Weiner's Seat



NEW YORK - Democrats suffered a significant setback early Wednesday with the party losing a New York district it had held for almost a century -- in an upset result seen as a rebuke of President Barack Obama's policies ahead of the 2012 election.


Republican Bob Turner was called as the winner of the special election for the 9th Congressional District, held to replace disgraced former Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner, who resigned in June after admitting he sent sexually-charged messages to women he met online.


Democrats have held the seat since March 1923 -- and Turner's challenger David Weprin was early Wednesday refusing to concede.

With 86 percent of precincts reporting, Turner had 54 percent of the vote and Weprin 46 percent, with about 4700 votes separating the pair, WNYC reported.

After the votes had been seemingly too close to call throughout the night, a number of media organizations declared Turner the victor.


Around midnight, Weprin spoke briefly to his supporters, saying he wasn't yet ready to give in. "This is not over yet. It's going to be a long night, there's still a lot of votes to be counted," Weprin told supporters, according to The Wall Street Journal.


After being introduced as Congressman Turner -- while Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" played in the background -- the retired media executive and political novice told his supporters at the Roma View restaurant in Howard Beach, Queens, that he was ready to get to work.


As his supporters chanted, "Yes we can!" -- a jab at Obama's 2008 campaign slogan -- Turner told the crowd, "It's still me up here," WNYC reported.


"Maybe we started something. I sure hope so," he said.


"We've been told this is a referendum and we're ready to say, 'Mr. President, we are on the wrong track," he said, according to the New York Daily News.


"We've been asked by the people of this district to send a message to Washington and I hope they hear it loud and clear. We only hope that our voices are heard. We can start putting things right again."


Democrats were once seemingly assured of an easy victory in the race but were forced to scramble ahead of the election because of what Republicans claimed was widespread voter dissatisfaction with Obama, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The district is overwhelmingly Democratic -- by a ratio of three to one -- yet Weprin, a state Assemblyman, trailed by six percent in two polls prior to the election.


Polls in the district also showed that a majority of voters have an unfavorable view of Obama.


Democratic party leaders insisted the loss wasn't a harbinger of things to come. "It's a very difficult district for Democrats," said Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, noting its Democratic margins there tend to be the second lowest of all the districts in New York City.


But House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), dismissed that idea.


"This is a very seriously Democrat district," Boehner said. "This is not a district that Republicans have any right to believe we could win."


Turner worked hard to nationalize -- and internationalize -- the race. Turner had argued voters in the heavily Jewish district should choose him over Weprin as a way to send a message to Obama of their displeasure that he isn't more friendly to Israel. Turner is a Roman Catholic while Weprin is an Orthodox Jew.


And some conservative Jewish groups attacked Weprin, a state legislator, over his vote earlier this year in favor of gay marriage.