Congressional races around the country are likely to heat up now that the House of Representatives and the Senate have recessed until after the election. In the Syracuse area, the re-match between Ann Marie Buerkle and Dan Maffei is statistically a tie, according to the latest poll.Negative television ads have hit the airwaves on both sides. But the Republican Buerkle, who unseated the Democrat Maffei after he served only one term in Congress, says her opponent has gone negative because he doesn't want to talk about the fact that he voted for things like the Affordable Care Act and the stimulus bill.
"He doesn't want to talk about his record because his record is not what's right for upstate New York, so he goes on attack and just goes after my record, and that's not helpful," said Buerkle. "People need to know what he stands for and what his plan is and that's why I think his adds are so negative."
Buerkle defeated Maffei in 2010 by less than 600 votes. This year, there is also a third candidate in the race -- Ursula Rozum of the Green Party.