Faso, Teachout Running for 'Battleground' Congressional District 19

KINGSTON, NY — One race being watched to see which party will control the House of Representatives come January is Congressional District 19.

Republican Chris Gibson currently holds the seat which he won in 2012, besting Sean Eldridge, husband of Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes.

When Gibson decided not to seek a fourth term that threw it open and made it what Ballotpedia.org calls a “battleground district.”

After the primary dust settled, Zephyr Teachout, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for governor of New York against Andrew Cuomo in 2014, and Republican John Faso, who ran unsuccessfully against Eliot Spitzer for governor in 2006, will face off for the congressional seat Tuesday.

While an Oct. 26 poll by End Citizens United showed Teachout with a three-point lead over Faso, a Time Warner Cable News/Siena College poll released Sunday shows Faso with a 6 percent lead over Teachout.

According to twcnews.com, the difference in the lates poll was independent voters giving Faso the edge.

Faso, 64, said he’s always had a desire to serve.

According to his biography on his campaign website, since leaving public service, he’s advocated for issues and causes he’s believed in, such as improving the private sector economy and educational opportunities for children.

Faso said he’s a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and has opposed the state’s SAFE Act.

The Kinderhook, Columbia County, resident said he wants to reduce taxes for “hardworking Americans and small businesses,” flatten the tax code and close loopholes and repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

Faso said he will seek to incentivize small business investment by, among other things, allowing a 100 percent expensing of capital expenditures for small businesses, farmers and manufacturers.

Among the endorsements Faso has received are the Albany Times Union and the New York Post.

Teachout, 45, a Clinton, Dutchess County, resident, is a tenured associate professor of law at Fordham Law School and was the national director of the Sunlight Foundation, which promotes government transparency.

According to information on her campaign website, Teachout pledges to protect jobs and grow the economy by reducing property taxes, making big banks lend to independent businesses and stopping disastrous trade deals.

She also said she will fight for public financing of elections and work to overturn Citizens United.

Teachout won the endorsement of the Poughkeepsie Journal and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, among others.

Congressional District 19 is comprised of Columbia, Delaware, Greene, Otsego, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster counties and portions of Broome, Dutchess and Rensselaer counties.

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