Dede Scozzafava Pulls Out of New York Special Election

10/31/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Today, Dierdre Scozzafava made it clear that she is, for all intents and purposes, dropping from the New York 23 race. Scozzafava is bowing out as the race runs towards its conclusion largely because there is almost no possibility of her winning the race. Currently, there is no non-partisan polling for NY23, and the polls either favor Bill Owens or Dough Hoffman. The last non-partisan poll showed Owens leading the race by ten points. While she cannot be struck from the ballot, she is releasing her supporters to back whomever they want. In NY23, that could mean that a Democrat will sit in a seat that the party has not held since the Civil War. If Hoffman wins, it will still mean that the Republican Party will have lost a seat held for over 150 years.

Scozzafava is a moderate, New York Republican who has faced intense pressure from both the Left and the Right with the Republican National Party unwilling to even really help her finance her campaign. Many of the national Republican figures such as Sarah Palin have flocked to Hoffman who they see as their kind of Conservative. Only Newt Gingrich came out in support for Scozzafava. Scozzafava supports LGBT rights, including same-sex marriage rights. This was, in part, why the Conservatives targeted her for removal from the national party. On a practical level, Scozzofava is very much a Northern Republican unlike Hoffman. Currently, opinion seems to be running that Hoffman is an outsider in NY 23, and unlikely to fit as their Representative. Doug Hoffman does not live in the district and has shown a surprising lack of ability to understand the local issues.

Despite the Susan B. Anthony List’s statement that Ms Scozzafava is doing what is right for her party, the loss of Scozzafava from the Republican Party is another indicator of a problem within the Republican Party. The shift towards the ultra-conservative in the Republican Party could, ultimately, mean that the GOP will become isolated to the South, and risks creating a party that will remain in the minority for another two or three generations.