At his morning briefing with reporters, Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer was cautiously bullish – if such a thing is possible – about his party’s chances of winning the special election in New York’s 26th district.
“All eyes are on New York’s 26th,” said Hoyer. “There should be
no
eyes on this district.” He ran down the partisan metrics of the district that made it so tough for the party to win. “It’s clear the reason is Republican budget and proposal to end Medicare as we know it, and end the guarantee for seniors… Republicans have over-relied upon, over-estimated the so-called mandate they received.” Hoyer said he’d already congratulated DCCC chairman Steve Israel for “making them [Republicans] spend a million dollars in a district that should have been a yawn and a vote.”
The closest Hoyer came to predicting the outcome was a bit of zealous praise for the Democratic candidate. “Kathy Hochul is an extraordinary able candidate,” he said, “and will be an excellent member of Congress.” There should have been an “if” in there, but we’ll know if it mattered in around 12 or 13 hours.
