Turner wins CD 9

A longtime democratic stronghold fell into unfamiliar territory, as Republican Bob Turner captured Congressional District 9 after a stunning defeat of Democrat David Weprin.
The news of Turner’s victory trickled in just after midnight at a packed house at Roma View in Howard Beach – sending the hundreds in attendance into frenzy. When the Associated Press projected the businessman as the winner, he was ahead in the polls 54 to 46 percent with about 86 percent of the Brooklyn-Queens precincts reporting.
Weprin conceded early the morning after the special election, calling Turner to congratulate him. At first, the democrat chose to wait until all absentee ballots were counted, but with a vote margin of 32,403 to 27,599 in favor of Turner, Weprin gave in.
“I’m incredibly proud of the campaign that we ran, and incredibly grateful to the countless volunteers who worked day after day to bring our message to voters,” said Weprin. “In doing so we raised the profile of issues like Medicare, Social Security, and tax relief for working families – issues that will be of critical importance for the next Congress.”
Many of the throngs of Turner supporters said that this victory is a rebuke of national policies set forward by President Barack Obama. The newly-minted congressmember said it himself, telling supporters that his victory merely an opening salvo.
“We’ve been asked by people of this district to send a message to Washington and I hope they hear it loud and clear,” said Turner, at his special election celebration on September 13. “This message will resound for a whole year. We’ve lit one candle today and it’ll be a bonfire.”
In contrast to Weprin, Turner campaigned on the promise to keep away from “politics as usual.” He called his opponent a “career politician” who was “out of touch with the district.”
“From the very beginning it has been a grass-roots campaign,” said Turner. “It was people like us who got off their couch and said ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.’”
Turner benefited from having some political heavyweights in his corner, including Congressmember Peter King and former Mayor Ed Koch, who said that Weprin’s claims that Turner would scrap Social Security and Medicare were unfounded.
“Bob Turner is a caring man, a compassionate man and your next representative in Washington,” said Koch before asking the crowd, “How’s Bob Turner doing?”
While he and his supporters were obviously doing great at the rally, they may not have long to celebrate victory – the district may be phased out of existence next year as part of census-mandated congressional redistricting.