New York State will be in the thick of it when it comes to races for Congress this November, because there are more competitive races than usual for house seats in the Empire State.
New York State Republican Party Chair Ed Cox says restricting and a bigger than usual crop of freshman representatives has combined to make this a very interesting year in the race for 27 seats in New York for the U.S. House of Representatives.
"We have more Congressional districts that can go one way or another than any other state," said Cox.
"There are potentially 13 congressional districts in play -- an extraordinary number. We could either win or lose them," he said
National political pundits agree at the high number of congressional seats in play. The highly-regarded Cook Political Report puts ten races in the competitive category -- including two rematches in central and northern New York. The race in the newly re-drawn 24th district, which includes the Syracuse area, between Republican incumbent Ann Marie Buerkle and Democrat and former Congressman Dan Maffei, is one. In the North Country, Democrat and current Congressman Bill Owens faces Republican Matt Doheny once again in the new 21st district.
New York lost two Congressional seats in the latest round of redistricting due to population losses.
Cox is predicting that the GOP will pick up 11 seats.
"We had seven freshman in Congress and we had judicial non-partisan redistricting, and that means the judges redid everything. It diminished our strength in some districts and increased it in a number of districts we don't hold now," said Cox.
