Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-New Hartford) currently represents New York’s 22nd district in Congress.
In January, Tenney announced she would run for the newly redrawn 23rd district seat. That district encompassed parts of Chenango, Cortland, Broome, and Tioga counties at the time.
But those maps were thrown out and redrawn by a court-appointed special master.
Now, as of this week, Tenney is running in the new 24th district, which includes most of Oswego County and stretches west through the Finger Lakes and into Niagara County in western New York.
Grant Reeher, a political science professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, said since the maps took so long to redraw and finalize, candidates and voters are at a disadvantage this year.
"Now we have a lot of confusion, and time is running out,” said Reeher. “We're already in the second half of May, and you've got to conduct two sets of primaries, for each party, and have a general election."
At least one of Tenney’s opponents is speaking out about her newly announced candidacy in the 24th district.
RepublicanMario Fratto from Geneva said he’s already been campaigning for months and believes constituents in the Finger Lakes should have someone from the district representing them in Washington.
"We make up over 400,000 people, which is the majority of the district, and we've never had a local representative,” said Fratto. “Now that we have an opportunity for it, somebody sees it as a safe seat that they can jump into, and I don't think that's going to fly with the people here. It's not going to fly with me, I'll tell you that."
Tenney lives in New Hartford in Oneida County. In response to Fratto’s criticism, her campaign released a statement saying:
"Congresswoman Tenney has deep roots in New York’s 24th Congressional District. She has represented portions of NY-24 starting in 2011 and she previously lived in Ontario County. Congresswoman Tenney has also received the support of multiple Republican and Conservative chairs across New York's 24th District. She is continuing to build tremendous momentum as she takes her America First message directly to the voters."
