Democrats Control 25th District After 3 Decades

Election Coverage

Maffei Steals the Republican Vote in CNY
By: Jenna Grossbart

Contributor

After 30 years under Republican control, Dan Maffei has brought back the Democratic spot in the 25th congressional district. Maffei lead with 55 percent of the vote to his Republican opponent, Dale Sweetland’s 42 percent.

Maffei’s win was a long time coming and it was all smiles and good spirit at his headquarters in Madydale, NY as supporters helped pack up lawn signs, flags and pins.” This has been a great campaign because we laid a strong groundwork two years ago,” said Abigail Gardner, Maffei’s Press Secretary. Gardner says that they focused on the Northern suburbs like Cicero because they historically have been swing areas. She believes a mixture of their campaigning and the national mood contributed to their success over those known Republican areas. Maffei also raised almost 7 times the amount that Sweetland raised.

However, the feeling from downtown Syracuse residents was not only that they voted Democratic to be in accordance with the national vote, but that they refused to have another Republican in power. Robert Walker, a Syracuse resident said, “I don’t believe Republicans have the people’s best interest that the government should be for the people, not just the rich.” Another Syracuse resident, Robert Hughes said he could not fathom voting for someone [Sweetland] that would associate themselves with George W. Bush.