Make Room for Maffei: Bumped Congressman To Run For Old Seat

Dan Maffei, the upstate congressman who lost last year to upstart Tea Party Republican Ann Marie Buerkle by fewer than

Dan Maffei, the upstate congressman who lost last year to upstart Tea Party Republican Ann Marie Buerkle by fewer than 700 votes, announced this morning that he will re-seek his old seat.

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“People have had enough, and they want and deserve a representative who will offer solutions to modernize our infrastructure, to protect seniors and our middle class, and to get our deficit under control while jump-starting our economy,” Maffei said. ” I am running for Congress and I ask for your active support.”

Maffei is one of a number of congressman from Democratic-leaning districts who were bumped in 2010 and are being encouraged by Washington Democrats to run again. In his case, however, it is not clear that the seat will still exist after re-districting.

Full statement below:

Since January a shock wave of Tea Party driven partisanship and inflexibility has rolled across Congress. When I lost my election last November by 648 votes, I hoped that such a close result would convince our new Congresswoman to put aside her radical ideology, and set about finding ways to bring people together and create new opportunities for Central New Yorkers. Instead, she has marched in lockstep with her Tea Party friends, and voted time and again with the special interests who spent so many hundreds of thousands of dollars on the attack ads that helped her win.

Rep. Buerkle’s actions, now that she is in power, have clearly shown her dangerous priorities. She has already voted to end Medicare as we know it while protecting tax breaks for oil companies and billionaires. She has made her right-wing social agenda her priority while ignoring the real needs in this District for infrastructure funding and public education. And she was part of the extreme group that refused any compromise, and nearly plunged the nation into economic catastrophe.

Over the past 9 months I have done a great deal of listening to friends, neighbors and former constituents across Central New York about what they feel about the direction of the country, and whether I should be a candidate in 2012. The overwhelming refrain has been that it’s time for Congress to stop wasting time, and start working together to solve the very real problems that we face. Sometimes, people are so frustrated that they are tempted to throw up their hands in disgust and walk away. I understand this feeling. But I know that there is a bright future in front of us as long as we don’t give up on Central New York, America, or ourselves. Working together, we can do better! That is why I am running for Congress in 2012. Our campaign will offer the people of Central New York a better future than the divisive politics of Ann Marie Buerkle.

People have had enough, and they want and deserve a representative who will offer solutions to modernize our infrastructure, to protect seniors and our middle class, and to get our deficit under control while jump-starting our economy. I have always worked hard to find solutions, and have been successful at doing so both inside and outside of government. The people that know me best know how passionate I am for the future of my home and birthplace, Central New York, and that passion gives me great energy. But I can’t change things without your help. I am running for Congress and I ask for your active support.

Make Room for Maffei: Bumped Congressman To Run For Old Seat