Tedisco Gets the GOP Nod in N.Y. 20th

January 28, 2009

New York State Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco was tapped by 20th district GOP leaders Tuesday to be their nominee in the special election to replace Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D).

The Republican chairmen of the 10 counties that fall within the 20th district agreed to nominate Tedisco during a meeting at state GOP headquarters in Albany…

The race to replace Gillibrand is expected to be hotly contested in an upstate district that generally votes Republican but has trended Democratic in the past two election cycles. Tedisco lives just outside the district, but as Minority Leader in the Assembly, he has a high profile and close ties to GOP leaders upstate. He also does not have to give up his seat in the Legislature in order to run in the special election…

“Jim Tedisco is a strong candidate who has a record of standing up and fighting for the interests and values of his constituents,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Ken Spain said in a statement. “He is the consensus candidate of local Republicans in upstate New York and we are confident he will attract the support of mainstream middle class voters as he has in the past.”…

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