In a stunning defeat for Barack Obama and his regime, New York’s 9th Congressional District will now be represented by a conservative Republican. Just a few short months ago that statement would have evoked guffaws from any political pundit.
This race was supposed to be an easy win for Democrats, who have a 3-1 ratio registration advantage in the district. The heavily Democratic mostly workingman’s district, which spans parts of Queens and Brooklyn, had never sent a Republican to the House.
The Democrats and their liberal allies, such as the teachers unions, pulled-out all the stops, but retired media executive and political novice Bob Turner defeated Democratic state Assemblyman David Weprin to succeed Rep. Anthony Weiner, the seven-term Democrat who resigned in June after a “sexting” scandal.
The Democratic candidate, David Weprin, a 56-year-old Orthodox Jew and member of a prominent Queens political family, had seemed a good fit for the largely white, working-class district, which is nearly 40 percent Jewish.
But frustration with the continued weak national economy, the fact that the race had become a referendum on President Barack Obama’s economic policies, and that Weprin became embroiled in New York-centric disputes over Israel and gay marriage, cost him some support among Jewish voters.
Orthodox Jews, who tend to be conservative on social issues, expressed anger over Weprin’s vote in the New York State Assembly to legalize gay marriage. In July, New York became one of six states to recognize same-sex nuptials.
Weprin was further challenged on his support of a proposed Islamic center and mosque near the World Trade Center site, in lower Manhattan.
The Democratic Party enlisted two of its biggest guns, former President Bill Clinton and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, to record phone calls for Weprin. And Democrats relied on organized labor and other affiliated groups to bring voters to the polls.
But alas, as the sun rose on Brooklyn this morning, Bob Turner was victorious.
Turner, a 70-year-old Catholic, vowed to push back on Obama’s policies if elected. He received help from a prominent Republican, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and a New York favorite, former Mayor Ed Koch, a Democrat. Koch had endorsed Turner in July as a way to “send a message” to Obama on his policies toward Israel.
The mainstream media will try to spin this as a hard district for Democrats to hold, bad candidate, the drag on the party from the Anthony Weiner scandal, etc. — but that’s all just spin.
Bob Turner won because he nationalized the election, presented a platform of fiscally and socially conservative issues, and made it a referendum on Barack Obama and the direction he has taken the country.
Let’s hope the Republicans on Capitol Hill were watching and got the message.
By Ed Randazzo, Syndicated News Editor, Life and Liberty News
