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Voters To Choose Republican, Democratic 19th CD Candidates Today

Democratic and Republican voters in New York’s 19th Congressional District head to the polls today. Democrats are choosing between Zephyr Teachout and Will Yandik while Republicans may vote for John Faso or Andrew Heaney. The competitive seat is open as Republican Chris Gibson is not seeking re-election.

On the Republican side, the race has been contentious, with allegations, heated debates and cutting ads. John Faso, who ran for governor in 2006 against Eliot Spitzer, calls himself a pragmatic conservative.

“I’ve set forth a series of proposals that I think are important to address what is the overriding issue in this district which is the poor economy, the lack of jobs, the high taxes that are driving people away,” says Faso. “And I’ve offered an innovative plan to address what has been a longstanding issue in upstate New York which is the county property taxpayers  having to pay a major portion of the state’s share of the Medicaid system. And New York is way out of line with other states in imposing these burdens on county property taxpayers.”

The former state Assembly leader blames Andrew Heaney for starting the rancor.

“And his entire campaign is based upon smearing me and trying to tear me down despite the fact that I have an impeccable record in public service when I served in the state legislature,” Faso says.

Heaney is a small business owner who lives in the Town of Washington in Dutchess County. Heaney alleges he is up against an establishment politician backed by political patronage.

“And the simple fact of the matter is they don’t me in this race. They don’t want someone who comes into the race saying that he wants term limits and he wants to fight to make it illegal to lobby after serving in Congress,” Heaney says.  “And then there’s just the personality of the individuals involved.”

Heaney, a political newcomer, says his background is well suited for congressional office.

“Candidates like Donald Trump, candidates like myself do have experience. Our experience is in creating jobs and creating opportunities. And moving to Congress or working inside government in that capacity is well within the capability of people like myself and like Trump,” Heaney says. “If you go back to our Founding Fathers, the idea was not to have a professional class of politicians. The idea was to have citizen representation.”

Heaney, too, underscores the importance of bringing jobs to the 19th District. Faso’s Kinderhook neighbor and fellow Republican Chris Gibson, speaking on WAMC’s Congressional Corner earlier this month, says he is not endorsing a candidate in the primaries.

“My best hope is that our candidate who comes out of the primary, whoever that may be…”

“ You mean the Republican,” says Alan Chartock.

“… the Republican candidate who comes out of the primary really spends time to get to know the people and to communicate to them and connect with them. And I think that’s the key thing for success,” says Gibson. “Look, I look at all four of these candidates, on the Republican and Democratic side, and I think they’re all high quality and I think that they are integrious people. So I think this is good news for the people of the 19th.  I’m going to be supporting our candidate, the Republican candidate, but I think that they’re going to be good choices all around.”

In a Time Warner Cable News/Siena Research Institute poll released Monday, Faso leads Heaney by 30 points. On the Democratic side, Zephyr Teachout has expanded her lead over Will Yandik to 39 points.

The race between Teachout and Yandik has been congenial. Their views on most topics are similar. However, Teachout, who challenged New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in the 2014 Democratic primary, is a proponent of the public financing of elections. Yandik is not. Teachout, who now lives in Dover Plains in Dutchess County, says she has been fighting against super PACS for some time.

“Even if you get rid of super PACS you still have a problem because most Congress members spend most of their time fundraising,” Teachout says. “That’s crazy. That means they’re not coming together to work out, address tough problems, work out solutions, listen. They’re becoming experts in rich people’s lives instead of experts in how we can have solar panel manufacturing here.”

Yandik, a fourth-generation farmer from Columbia County, also serves as Livingston town deputy supervisor, Yandik highlights his ability to work across the aisle.

“When I point to things like banning fracking, it’s one thing to preach to a crowd of Democrats about the need to protect water and move us away from a fossil-fuel economy,” says Yandik. “I’ve done that to an all–Republican Board and in a town where Republicans outnumber Democrats 2-to-1 and held firm on those progressive values but still managed to get Republicans to come on board with it.”

Polls are open until 9 p.m.  

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