Promoted from the diaries by EPU

The Confirmation of Representative John McHugh as Obama’s Secretary of the Army is still yet to occur, but NY-23 Republicans and Democrats are preparing for the inevitable race for his seat in Congress.  And amidst talks that the District 23 Republicans may push off making their nominations, The Jefferson County GOP has made their selection known, and a final tally now seems set for Thursday.  In their pick of Dede Scozzafava, Jefferson County admits to weighing “experience” over substance.  Jefferson County’s GOP Chair Sandra Corey told the Watertown Daily Times criticism that Scozzafava is too liberal “isn’t a problem for me, because I’m a Republican.  I’m not a Conservative or a Liberal.”

The prevailing wisdom, certainly inside the Franklin GOP, seems to be that any Republican victory is important — even if it’s a center-left moderate.

Conservative candidate Josh Lynch, who has found supporters among the Jefferson County voters and throughout NY-23, disagrees.  “I see a ripe opportunity,” says Lynch.  An opportunity for a “Common-sense Conservative” who can run a “positive, issues-based campaign

There’s an aspect of the modern day campaign and on the new media side [in which] I would excel.  I would continue to do it the way I did here.  I want to be the consensus candidate.  A candidate that appeals to new coalitions.

Still a Senatorial Aid, Lynch is essentially working two full-time jobs — his second being the campaign for Congress.  In a late-night phonecall, I spoke with Josh Lynch about something the local GOP seems to be ignoring in favor of (flawed) perceptions of electability: policy.

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Promoted from the diaries by Leon Wolf.  Josh is a former co-worker of mine and he is good people.  The NY-23 primary is today.  If you live in the district or the area, please consider this post.

Currently, New York, the third largest state in the union, counts only three federal officials with an R at the end their name: King, Lee, and McHugh. So if Republicans are so endangered in NY, why keep trying to win elections in New York with more of the same, tired candidates?

This fall we will have our chance to redo our loss in the NY-20 Special and try something different. The eyes of the nation will be on the Special in NY-23 where Rep. John McHugh has been tapped to serve as the President’s Secretary of the Army pending his confirmation by the US Senate.

A quick scan of NY-23 shows nearly a 47,000 Republican voter registration advantage, a very rural geography with fractured media markets and no Republican candidates with big name ID.

Our party ought to pick someone willing to run on issues and talk about our conservative principles. Our candidate would need to engage the grassroots and give people a reason to vote instead of a reason to stay home. We need someone who will proudly articulate a conservative Republican approach to a broad set of issues that affect people on a day-to-day basis. After all, special elections are won and lost based largely on partisan turn-out.

We have a chance to nominate a new, young face on the Republican Party to help it promote its ideas: 26-year old Waddington, New York native Josh Lynch. Josh has been a friend of mine for the past four years, and I couldn’t be happier that our Party has a chance to nominate him.

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