ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Former Bush White House aide Elise Stefanik has won the Republican primary for Congress in northern New York, defeating Matthew Doheny.
The unofficial tally showed her leading with 60 percent of the vote with 83 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday.
Doheny, a Watertown investment manager, dug again into his personal fortune after two previous failed bids for the 21st District seat. Stefanik got hundreds of thousands of dollars in help from major conservative backers.
With incumbent Democrat Bill Owens deciding not to seek re-election, Stefanik will face Democrat Aaron Woolf, a documentary filmmaker, and Green Party nominee Matt Funiciello, who owns a bread company in Glens Falls.
Stefanik lives in Willsboro. A Harvard University graduate, she worked on President George W. Bush's staff and national campaigns of former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan.
The district sprawls through much of northern New York
