It seems that a lot of conservative women feel like they have to act almost like cartoons in order to get ahead. That’s true on Capitol Hill and on television.
One of the more extreme examples of this is Claudia Tenney, the congresswoman from NY-22, a large swath of central New York including Utica, Rome and Binghamton. This is a woman who called Democrats un-American for not applauding Trump during the State of the Union address, thought the furor over Rob Porter was no big deal, wondered why mass shooters end up being Democrats, and thinks criticizing her is “fake news.”
Well, it looks like she may be paying the ultimate political price for her wingnuttery. For most of the cycle, Tenney was reckoned as one of the most endangered Republicans in the House, even though Trump carried her district by a punishing 55-39 margin. But she faced a very credible opponent in State Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi of Utica.
However, this is a classic Yankee Republican district; only two Democrats have held this seat in 117 years. But the Syracuse Post-Standard reported on Friday that when all is said and done, Brindisi will be the third.
Tenney's chance of a post-election night rally all but disappeared as Brindisi expanded his lead to 3,178 votes on the strength of absentee ballot victories in Broome and Herkimer counties.
Tenney, R-New Hartford, won the absentee count in Oswego County on Friday, but the 125-vote margin (484-359) was not enough to make a significant dent in Brindisi's lead.
With five of the eight counties in the district now finished counting absentee and affidavit ballots, Brindisi seems assured of a victory.
Tenney would need to win over three-fourths of the outstanding ballots in the rest of the district to pull this off. In other words, the equivalent of a double inside straight.
Most outlets called this race for Brindisi on Election Night. However, the AP was the lone holdout after absentee ballots dropped his lead fell below one percent. However, CNN still called this a Democratic flip, a decision validated as more absentee ballots came in and added to Brindisi’s lead.
Nate Silver has already stuck a fork in Tenney.
Luke Perry of Utica College agrees, believing that the only thing that will save Tenney is a serious counting error.
So Tenney’s attempt to essentially be Trump in a skirt appears to have cost her dearly. The people of this district will have a congressman they can be proud of.