New York's Ninth Congressional District will elect a representative to Congress next month. The seat was left vacant by the resignation of Democrat Anthony Weiner in mid-June after he resigned due to a sex scandal that erupted over the Memorial Day weekend. The district winds its way north from Jamaica Bay through Queens and into the heart of Brooklyn.
The special election to fill this vacant congressional seat will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 13. New York's Ninth Congressional District has about 681,000 residents, according to the Census Bureau. It differs from the average United States population in several respects.
Forty percent of the residents of the Ninth Congressional District are foreign born, compared to 12 percent in the national population. The median income and the per capita income are higher than the national averages. The district has a lower percentage of residents and families living below the poverty line than the nation as a whole. The residents are primarily white or Asian. A little more than 50 percent of the residents speak a foreign language at home, compared to just 20 percent nationally. Over one third of the residents have a four-year college degree or higher.
Democrat David Weprin is the local State Assemblyman and is his party's candidate to replace Weiner. It should be easy. In seven elections, Weiner never won by less than 59 percent of the vote and the Republicans did not field any opposition in two of those elections.
Bob Turner is the Republican candidate in the special election. He ran against Weiner in the 2010 General Election and garnered 41 percent of the vote. He recently received the endorsement of former NY Mayor, and life long Democrat, Ed Koch.
Siena College released the results of a poll taken in the 9th Congressional District on August 10. Its poll of likely voters showed Democrat Weprin leading Republican Turner by only six percentage points, 48 to 42 percent. Turner leads among likely voters in Brooklyn where about one third of the voters live. Weprin leads in Queens by a similar margin, among the two thirds of voters in that portion of the District. Siena's analyst sees the race as wide open, with one third of likely Democratic voters choosing Turner. The College will take another poll as the date for the special election draws nearer.
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