NRCC Dumps Cash Into NY-26 As Special Election Tilts Dem

NY-26 Congressional Candidates Jane Corwin (R) and Kathy Hochul (D).
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The GOP is dumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into the NY-26 election, hoping to stave off defeat in a right-leaning district that’s become a testing ground for Democratic attacks on the Paul Ryan budget.

According to FEC filings, the National Republican Congressional Committee has spent nearly $425,000 on the race, targeting not only Democratic candidate Kathy Hochul but an independent Tea Party candidate Jack Davis. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has spent over $266,000 on the race so far.

The NRCC’s move came as a progressive Super PAC announced their own “paid advertising offensive” targeting Corwin’s support for the Ryan budget, though its still unclear how much money the group, House Majority PAC, will invest in the race. A conservative Super PAC, American Crossroads, has pledged to spend $650,000 on the race.

Hochul has opened up a lead in the polls running a campaign almost entirely based on attacking the House GOP’s plan to cut and privatize Medicare. While the presence of a significant third party campaign is a wild card, election tracker Stu Rothenberg recently changed the race to “Toss Up/Tilts Democratic” based on Republicans’ inability to attract Davis voters even as he bleeds support.

In addition to the NRCC spending, Corwin has retooled with a drastically different message in recent days that appears to concede the effectiveness of Hochul’s Medicare attacks. In an ad this week, Corwin accused Hochul of trying to slash Medicare and Social Security based on a vague passing comment in a debate that “everything is on the table” in deficit talks. The ad made no mention of the Republican budget, which includes major cuts to entitlements, and the nonpartisan FactCheck.org labeled its claims “bogus.”

Ryan Reilly contributed to this post.

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