The Republican Party can’t be very happy with Chris Lee, the Craigslist Congressman, right now. Democrat Kathy Hochul has pulled off an unlikely victory in a special New York House election to replace Lee on Tuesday night, upsetting her Republican competitor in a red-leaning district. The race, in New York’s 26th District, drew national attention when it began to be viewed as a referendum on Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget plan, which would make controversial changes to Medicare. Jane Corwin, the GOP’s candidate, defended Ryan’s plan, while Hochul used it as her main line of attack. Poll watchers said they had seen heavier-than-normal turnout, although one commissioner said the number of people was “nothing astronomical.”
