2009 New York's 20th congressional district special election

2009 New York's 20th congressional district special election

← 2008 March 31, 2009 (2009-03-31) 2010 →
New York's 20th congressional district
Nominee Scott Murphy Jim Tedisco Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 80,833 80,107 Percentage 50.23% 49.77%
County results Murphy:      50-60% Tedisco:      50-60%
U.S. Representative before election Kirsten Gillibrand Democratic Elected U.S. Representative Scott Murphy Democratic

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v t e

On March 31, 2009, New York held a special election to fill a vacancy in its 20th congressional district. In January, the district's representative, Kirsten Gillibrand, was appointed US senator from New York, replacing Hillary Clinton, who had been appointed Secretary of State in the Obama administration. The two major-party candidates were Scott Murphy, a Democrat and private businessman, and Jim Tedisco, a Republican and the minority leader of the New York State Assembly. A Libertarian candidate, Eric Sundwall, was initially included in the race, but later removed from the ballot.

The 20th congressional district has historically been conservative, and early polls favored Tedisco, but by February 2009 the race was considered a toss-up. The Republican Party considered the election to be a referendum on President Obama's economic policy and as such, injected significant funding into Tedisco's campaign, using well-known Republicans such as former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Congressional Minority Leader John Boehner, and former New York governor George Pataki for support. Democrats used Senator Gillibrand, Vice President Joe Biden, and an endorsement from President Obama to support the Murphy campaign.

Major issues brought up during the campaign were the candidates' positions on President Obama's stimulus plan, which Tedisco did not take a stance on until late in the race. Murphy supported it while Tedisco eventually opposed it. Tedisco portrayed Murphy's support of the plan as a potential cause of the AIG bonus scandal. Tedisco's campaign also brought up Murphy's failure to pay taxes on a company he founded in the 1990s. A frequent Murphy talking point was that Tedisco's primary residence was not in the Congressional district.

The race was so close that one early vote count had the candidates tied at 77,225 votes each. Absentee ballots decided the election; ballots were accepted until April 13. While Tedisco had been ahead in early counts, by April 10 Murphy was leading, and by April 23 Murphy had a 401-vote advantage. Tedisco conceded the race the following day, and Murphy was sworn in on April 29. Democratic electoral successes in November 2008 and Murphy's clear support of the stimulus package were credited for his success.