Yesterday Delaware and New York held primaries. And the results are somewhat remarkable because in various primaries the higly favored candidate bite the dust. Neither John Carney (DE) or Jack Davis (NY) or Jon Powers (NY) will be on the Democratic ballot this fall.
DELAWARE:
Governor: The Democratic Party saw a huge upset in the open gubernatorial race, as highly favored Lieutenant Governor John Carney narrowly lost to 3rd term State Treasurer Jack Markell by a 51-49 vote. Retired Judge Bill Lee won the GOP gubernatorial primary with 72%. In most polls Carney had been leading comfortably. Markell is favored to retain the governorship for the Democrats.
Carney might still get a consolation prize in the event of Biden's elevation to the vice-presidency, as it has been rumoured that the losing candidate from the gubernatorial primary might be selected by Gov. Minner to succeed Biden in the US Senate seat.
NEW YORK:
CD-13: CD-13 (PVI: D+1) is the only NYC congressional district currently held by a Republican Rep. Vito Fossella (R) of Staten Island. Fosella was stopped by a police officer for running a red light. Turns out he was drunk. Worse, yet, it turned out that the family values man had too many values as he was on the way to visit his second family in Virginia, a family that his wife and children in New York didn't know about. Given the huge outrage he was forced to announce his retirement.
As expected in the open Vito Finito contest, NYC Councilor Mike McMahon (D) and former State Assemblyman Bob Straniere (R) easily won their respective primaries.
This primary on the GOP side was a laughing stock annex tragedy... Given the nature of Fosella's retirmeent, the Republicans were unable to find an established politician to run for the seat and settled on a rich businessman, Francis Powers, who could fund the race himself. Powers' estranged son tried but failed to get on the Libertarian ticket to defeat his father. Then Powers, Sr. died of a heart attack. The GOP picked former assemblyman Robert Straniere. The dean of Staten Island Republicans, former Rep. Guy Molinari hates Straniere so much that he publicly said he would do everything he can to defeat him.
I'd guess the dems are favored to pick up this seat...
CD-21: State Energy Authority President and former State Assemblyman Paul Tonko defeated four other Democrats, making him a safe bet to replace retiring Congressman Mike McNulty (D).
CD-26: The primary for CD-26 (PVI: R+3) saw a major upset. Everybody expected this to be a fight between Iraq War veteran Jon Powers and wealthy businessman Jack Davis. Powers was backed by the DCCC and te blogosphere. Well, neither Powers or Davis won. In a major upset, retired attorney and environmentalist Alice Kryzan defeated both men with 41% versus 36% for Powers and 23% for Davis. Kryzan will now face businessman Chris Lee (R) for the open seat as Congressman Tom Reynolds (R) is retiring.