What an opportunistic coattail rider this guy Bob Turner is. He won Rep. Anthony Weiner's seat when Andrew Breitbart ended Weiner's career with sexy-photo Twittergate. It was one of those truly bizarre elections where the Republican had almost no hope of winning in this largely Democratic district, yet did because of a weird confluence of events.
After successfully winning the Congressional seat vacated by Anthony "Crotch Shot" Weiner in a wacky special election last year, Rep. Bob Turner now has his sights set on Kirsten Gillibrand's Senate seat. Chatter about the possibility started yesterday and Turner confirmed, "I will travel to the Republican State Convention in Rochester later this week and humbly ask for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate. I will respectfully ask for the Conservative nomination a few days later at that Party's convention. I have made my intentions known to the other Republican candidates in this race."
David Weprin, the Democrat appointed to run in the special election was supposed to be a placeholder who had no further political aspirations, so he offered no actual campaign competition, allowing Turner to win. This was also the time that President Obama was experiencing criticism from Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Jewish community in the district on his statements about Israel's borders. Former Mayor Ed Koch endorsed the Republican as a swipe at Obama. And the Orthodox Jewish bloc of the district helped elect the Republican.
Now the district is going away entirely, as it has has been redistricted out as a result of the 2010 Census. So even if Anthony Wiener hadn't resigned, this district would have vaporized anyway. So Bob Turner ascends to (cough) prominence by winning a 7 month assignment as Weiner's replacement. And now thinks that is qualifications to challenge Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand for the Senate.
The Republican party isn't even supporting him.
However, Conservative Party chairman Mike Long tells the Post, "I think Bob got into this too late." Long has a vested interest in candidate Wendy Long, who apparently has conservative support.
And former mayor Ed Koch, whose endorsement helped him win, is
sticking with Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand.
Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch won't back Rep. Bob Turner in his bid to unseat Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, he told BuzzFeed, saying he's firmly in the corner of New York's junior senator despite backing Turner in his special election last year.
"She was in my office about two weeks ago. I told her I’m on her campaign committee," he said. "I’ll be her advance man. I'm a little old, but I'll be her advance man."
Koch said he's "very proud" of his decision to back Turner's 2011 bid to replace Rep. Anthony Weiner, saying he was trying to send a message to President Barack Obama, "and I think the president has gotten that message."