Free Republic

Washington -- Rep. Dan Maffei, after winning the most expensive campaign on record for a Central New York congressional seat, says it is time to take the big money out of politics. Despite the millions of dollars in special-interest money spent on his behalf, Maffei says he's ready to change the system and back it up with tough legislation.

With two weeks until Election Day, Operation Counterweight in Upstate New York is approaching its home stretch. Below is an update for the 24th District where Ann Marie Buerkle faces a rematch with the Democrat she defeated in 2010, Dan Maffei. Roll Call rates it lean Democrat because the District is 56% Democrat, the most recent public polling shows the race tied. Please consider making a donation to Buerkle’s campaign to help her past the finish line.... Much of the early buzz about this race was very negative about Buerkle’s chances , as she faces the incumbent she narrowly defeated...

Rep. Buerkle (R-NY) questions Attorney General Eric Holder during the full committee hearing "Fast & Furious: Management Failures at the Department of Justice" on February 2, 2012.

Ann Marie Buerkle wins the NY 25th district race for US Congress. Another US House seat pick up for Republicans. Press conference for 4 PM. Link only for copyright purposes.

The last county in New York's 25th District has reported the count of absentee ballots on Sunday afternoon. Ann Marie Buerkle, pro-life Catholic good gal, has 104,374 votes, 567 more than culture of death 'Rat Dan Maffei. Congratulations, Congresswoman-elect Buerkle. You are the GOP's 242nd member of the house for the 112th Congress; the GOP is up 63 seats from the 111th. Only three races left, although the 'Rats lead in all three (the word in NY-01, the east end of Long Island, is that bearded Marxist Tim Bishop is 15 votes ahead of the GOP's Randy Altschuler).

It’s now almost three weeks since election day. Thanksgiving is right around the corner. All of the ballots in the NY25 congressional race have been counted and Ann Marie Buerkle has won the election. Republican Ann Marie Buerkle leads in the 25th District by about 567 votes. The tally among Wayne County absentee ballots was 790 for Buerkle, 521 for Maffei. Maffei has so far not conceded the race. More than 160 ballots were challenged by either campaign for a judge to examine, but that doesn’t appear to be enough for Maffei to bridge the gap, even if they all...

With only Wayne County left to count absentees in the 25th Congressional District, it’s Ann Marie Buerkle’s race to lose. The final count of absentee ballots in Onondaga County gave incumbent Democrat Dan Maffei 3,571 votes and Buerkle 3,014. Buerkle campaign spokeswoman Liza Lowery said Buerkle also picked up 144 votes after recanvassing in Wayne County. With the additional votes from Onondaga and Wayne counties, Buerkle leads Maffei by 411 votes. In a statement, Lowery argued that there is no way Maffei can win.

< snip > . . . Republican challengers currently lead in three of the five remaining undecided races, including New York's 25th district. Absentee ballots were counted there today and GOP challenger Ann Marie Buerkle maintained a lead of 411 votes by last count. Blogger Sam Foster says this almost certainly means Democrat incumbent Dan Maffei has been defeated. Buerkle's victory would be of historic significance because, as the Los Angeles Times reports, Republicans haven't held more than 240 House seats since 1949.

Rep. Dan Maffei’s (D) strategy for bitterly clinging to the NY25 House seat is becoming clear. He’s hiding behind his attorneys who are doing his dirty work for him. He isn’t having bags of ballots appear, he’s trying to make bags of ballots disappear. Absentee ballots were counted in Monroe County, and Ann Marie Buerkle’s lead expanded, yet again, over Maffei. Maffei’s campaign calls this good news. Maffei’s campaign noted that Buerkle carried the 25th District’s three towns in the Rochester suburbs (Irondequoit, Penfield and Webster) by 10 points on Election Day, 55 percent to 45 percent. When the absentee...

Buerkle edges ahead in 25th District Congressional race Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - With the recent update of election results from Wayne County, it appears Republican Ann Marie Buerkle has edged ahead of Democrat Dan Maffei in the race for the 25th District Congressional Seat. Prior to the release of Wayne County's preliminary results, Maffei had led Buerkle by about 3,000 votes. Now, Buerkle leads by less than 700 votes with roughly 6,000 absentee ballots remaining to be counted. Maffei spoke to his supporters on election night, saying he was confident that he would be elected. "I'm absolutely sure that when all...

Syracuse, NY -- Republican Ann Marie Buerkle surged ahead of U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei by 659 votes this afternoon in the 25th Congressional District race after Wayne County reported its unofficial results. Buerkle sealed her victory in the western part of the district with a convincing win in Wayne County, trouncing Maffei 15,429 (63 percent) to 9,191 (37 percent), according to returns Wayne County released at about 5:30 p.m. Before Wayne County reported its results -- more than 20 hours after polls closed -- Maffei held on to a slim lead of about 5,600 votes from the other three counties...

As the campaign season entered its final weeks, the area’s two incumbent congressmen were outspending their Republican challengers by wide margins. Of course, they had more to spend — a lot more. For the quarter ending Sept. 30, Rep. Dan Maffei, D-25 of Syracuse, took in $366,805 in net contributions. Challenger Ann Marie Buerkle took in less than half of that: $147,888. In the 24th District, incumbent Democrat Mike Arcuri of Utica outraised challenger Richard Hanna by a smaller margin, $256,291 to $138,527.... 24th District While Hanna had the fundraising edge early in the campaign, Arcuri quickly regained it, and...