page_title: 2009 New York's 20th congressional district special election
section_title: Campaign
hierarchical_section_title: 2009 New York's 20th congressional district special election / Campaign
caption_attribution_description: English: New York junior Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D) on a campaign stop with Congressional candidate Scott Murphy (D) at a diner in Brunswick, New York during the 2009 special election for the 20th congressional district of New York. New York Governor David Paterson replaced former Senator Hillary Clinton with Senator Gillibrand (the former Congresswoman from New York's 20th congressional district) upon her accession of the office of United States Secretary of State in the Obama administration. Murphy won that election and represented New York's 20th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives until he was beat by challenger Chris Gibson in 2010.
context_page_description: The 2009 special election for the 20th congressional district of New York was held on March 31, 2009, to fill the vacancy created in January 2009 when the district's representative, Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand, was appointed US senator from New York, replacing Hillary Clinton, who had been appointed Secretary of State in the Obama administration. The two major-party candidates were Democrat Scott Murphy, a private businessman, and Republican Jim Tedisco, the minority leader of the New York State Assembly. A third-party candidate, Libertarian Eric Sundwall, was initially included in the race, but later removed from the ballot.
  New York's 20th congressional district has historically been conservative, and early polls favored Tedisco, but by February 2009 the race was considered a toss-up. The Republican Party considered the election to be a referendum on President Obama's economic policy and as such, injected significant funding into Tedisco's campaign, using well-known Republicans such as former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Congressional Minority Leader John Boehner, and former New York Governor George Pataki for support.
context_section_description: The campaigns agreed to hold four debates. The first debate took place on March 2, between Tedisco and Murphy. The second debate, sponsored by WMHT and the Times Union, took place on March 19 between Murphy and Libertarian candidate Eric Sundwall. Jim Tedisco held a town hall meeting rather than attend, claiming the debate was not one of the four originally agreed upon. The third debate took place on March 23 and the final debate was on March 26.
  Strategists from both parties viewed the outcome of the race as a "referendum on President Obama's handling of the economy". Chairman Michael Steele of the Republican National Committee said the special election was the first of three elections that were "incredibly important" for the Republicans to win. The Republican leadership made this race a top priority, and Chairman Steele, former Governor George Pataki, House Minority Leader John Boehner, and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich helped Tedisco with fundraising. Steele visited the district twice. On the Democratic side, Senator Gillibrand appeared in commercials and robocalls for Murphy, and Senator Chuck Schumer helped Murphy's campaign with fundraising. Less than a week before the election, President Obama formally endorsed Murphy in a mass email to supporters and urged supporters to organize and vote for Murphy. A radio ad Vice President Joe Biden recorded for Murphy was released on March 25. That same day, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tim Kaine emailed 500 of the party's top donors asking them to contribute to Murphy's campaign.
  The RNC spent $100,000 on Tedisco's behalf. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent $150,000 and the Service Employees International Union spent $315,000 for Murphy. The New York State United Teachers made an effort to call its members on Murphy's behalf, while the National Right to Life, National Republican Trust and New York State Rifle and Pistol Association organizations paid for ads and mailings supporting Tedisco.
  Each candidate aimed to discredit the other by pointing out his opponent's flaws or mistakes. Republicans called attention to Murphy's failure to pay taxes on a start-up computer software company he had founded in the 1990s, drawing comparison to three high-profile Obama administration nominees who failed to pay all of their taxes. Tedisco also called attention to Murphy's failure to regularly vote in elections after the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) announced that Murphy had failed to vote in the 2000 presidential election, along with seven other primaries and general elections between 2000 and 2003. Believing the negative ads run by the NRCC were responsible for his drop in the polls, Tedisco announced that he would take control of campaign advertising from the NRCC.
  Murphy spent the first months of the campaign criticizing Tedisco's early refusal to disclose his position on President Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. When Tedisco came out in opposition to the legislation on March 16, Murphy responded by writing "it's just shameful it took well over a month for Assemblyman Tedisco to finally admit that he'd vote 'No'". Murphy's campaign described Tedisco as a career Albany politician.
  By mid-March, a provision in the stimulus package that grandfathered in bonuses paid to executives at troubled insurance giant AIG and other TARP recipients became a campaign issue. Tedisco, who had been criticized by Murphy for opposing the package, used the outrage over the AIG bonuses to reframe the debate. On March 19, Tedisco called for the resignation of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner over the AIG controversy. Murphy responded by insisting that the stimulus package was necessary for job creation.
caption: Scott Murphy and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand at a campaign stop on March 29, 2009[55]
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