Hochul Wins NY-26...Listen Up, National Dems!

Kathy Hochul tonight became the first Democrat to be elected to Congress from New York's 26th District, as she won a decisive victory over her Republican opponent Jane Corwin:

TPM:

Democrat Kathy Hochul lead 48-43 with over 83% of the votes counted and her victory looks to be a strong one -- the Associated Press called the race within an hour of the polls closing. Corwin underperformed in key GOP counties while Hochul's margins in Democratic areas were in line with the party's high water mark in the district from 2006, a wave year that swept the Republicans out of the majority in the House and Senate. The district is normally a safe seat for Republicans and has never elected a Democrat..

Hochul's message focused relentlessly on the Paul Ryan budget, which she highlighted in ads, public statements, and debates at every opportunity. Her attacks on its cuts to Medicare benefits and its tax cuts for the wealthy proved impossible for Corwin to overcome, who tried her best to defend the GOP budget cuts before eventually giving in and falsely accusing Hochul of seeking similar cuts while muddying her own position on the plan

National Dems, are you listening? This is the way we can win back the House and rack up larger margins in the Senate. As usual, the Repugs have overplayed their hand, this time with the Ryan budget. End Medicare? Are they kidding? Hochul's district has never elected a Democrat, but mention ending Medicare, and the older white voters who make up the majority of the Republican electorate will switch parties in a flash! And let's face it, who else do the Republicans have?

All that we need to do is emphasize that Democrats won't dismantle Medicare and Social Security, that Democrats are the party that supports the middle class, that Democrats are the true patriots who care about their fellow citizens (Eric Cantor, this means you!). We need to say it and mean it, and we need, as Kathy Hochul showed us, to say long and loudly just how the Republicans are sticking it to their fellow Americans.

Wake up, Dems,.it's time to fight.