AP has called Kathy Hochul the winner of the congressional race held today in upstate New York's 26th district.
This was a race that medicare played the major role in.
Paul Ryan's plan to kill Medicare was the major factor for campaigning and voting. Long-time Republicans voted against their party.
One section of the district that went 70% Republican in the last election was won by Democrat Hochul.
Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader, commented,
"Kathy Hochul's victory tonight is a tribute to Democrats' commitment
to preserve and strengthen Medicare, create jobs, and grow our
economy. And it sends a clear message that will echo nationwide:
Republicans will be held accountable for their vote to end Medicare.
"Congresswoman-elect Hochul will add an independent, strong,
passionate voice to the House Democratic Caucus as she works to build a
better future for her constituents and for all Americans, bolster our
middle class, support small businesses, and restore our economic
prosperity.
"We look forward to welcoming her to the House of Representatives."
Robert Zerban, Paul Ryan's Democratic opponent in his Wisconsin district, issued this statement:
"Tonight it is clear that Representative Paul Ryan's plan to end
Medicare is the wrong choice for our families, and we will not stand for
it. Voters in New York's 26th Congressional District rejected Paul
Ryan's backward vision of America that puts our seniors at risk. If New
Yorkers don't want Medicare replaced with a voucher plan, you can be
sure that families here in Wisconsin's First District will have
something to say in the next election. Wisconsinites put our trust in
Paul Ryan only to be sold out to special interests.
"I'd like to congratulate New York's new Democratic Congresswoman
Kathy Hochul for winning this strongly-held Republican district. We have
our work cut out for us to put our nation back on track, but ordinary
people have spoken up tonight to say, "Hands off our Medicare, Paul
Ryan."
This election was about medicare. But the Republicans are also playing a very, very dangerous game with the debt limit, already passing one deadline. It is looking more and more likely that the pendulum will swing the other way in 2012. Of course, more and more are saying that it doesn't make that big a difference, that both parties are corporate parties.
Rob Kall is an award winning journalist, inventor, software architect,
connector and visionary. His work and his writing have been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, ABC, the HuffingtonPost, Success, Discover and other media.
Check out his platform at RobKall.com
He is the author of The Bottom-up Revolution; Mastering the Emerging World of Connectivity
He's given talks and workshops to Fortune
500 execs and national medical and psychological organizations, and pioneered
first-of-their-kind conferences in Positive Psychology, Brain Science and
Story. He hosts some of the world's smartest, most interesting and powerful
people on his Bottom Up Radio Show,
and founded and publishes one of the top Google- ranked progressive news and
opinion sites, OpEdNews.com
more detailed bio:
Rob Kall has spent his adult life as an awakener and empowerer-- first in the field of biofeedback, inventing products, developing software and a music recording label, MuPsych, within the company he founded in 1978-- Futurehealth, and founding, organizing and running 3 conferences: Winter Brain, on Neurofeedback and consciousness, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology (a pioneer in the field of Positive Psychology, first presenting workshops on it in 1985) and Storycon Summit Meeting on the Art Science and Application of Story-- each the first of their kind. Then, when he found the process of raising people's consciousness and empowering them to take more control of their lives one person at a time was too slow, he founded Opednews.com-- which has been the top search result on Google for the terms liberal news and progressive opinion for several years. Rob began his Bottom-up Radio show, broadcast on WNJC 1360 AM to Metro Philly, also available on iTunes, covering the transition of our culture, business and world from predominantly Top-down (hierarchical, centralized, authoritarian, patriarchal, big) to bottom-up (egalitarian, local, interdependent, grassroots, archetypal feminine and small.) Recent long-term projects include a book, Bottom-up-- The Connection Revolution, (more...)