We've been trying since the results of the Democratic primary for the 26th Congressional District were announced Tuesday to get some questions answered by the campaign for Jon Powers. We have not received a response from the campaign, and no one else involved could answer our questions.
So we thought to post those questions here on the site and maybe get a response that way. Powers garnered a lot of support in Genesee County, and we thought folks would be interested to know what their candidate would do now that he lost the endorsement in this race.
Initially (Wednesday), these questions were sent to the campaign:
1. Following last night's defeat in the primary, what are Jon Powers' plans for the rest of the election season? Does he have any plans to enter any other races in the next few years? Try again for Congress? Run on another party's endorsement for this same seat?
2. What happens with all of the funds raised by the Powers campaign? Will that money go to another campaign or to the Democrats in general? If not, where does it go?
UPDATE (By Howard): What I want to know:
1. Will Powers still campaign as Working Families candidate (even though WF has apparently endorsed Kryzan)?
2. Will Powers endorse Kryzan?
I won't speak for the
I won't speak for the campaign here, but I'll try and answer your questions.
(1) Powers is thinking about his plans for the present. It is too early for anyone to say if he is running again in 2010 or in the future for another seat. I'm sure Jon has some personal goals he wants to achieve and I am certain he would love to get involved with War Kids Relief again.
(2) Powers had <a href="http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00435750/359970/">$233,44…; left as of the pre-primary filing. I'm sure that figure is lower since the primary. But what he does with it is up to him. He could give the money to other Democrats and help get other Democrats elected.
(3) In my view, I don't see Powers campaigning on the WFP line. The WFP endorsement of Kryzan is fine, but that doesn't change the fact that Powers has their line. He has the line, but I don't see him running just for the sake of running. He didn't run for himself. He ran for the people of this district. I can't see him running a campaign that is not going to succeed on a minor party line.
(4) This is just a general view from a Powers supporter who has talked with over Powers supporters. I have supported Jon for the last 14 months. Others have been along for the ride even longer. Others came on late last summer or in the fall. Others joined over the winter and in the spring. There are A LOT of us out there that supported Jon. You can't just ask us to back Kryzan after a few days of her being the nominee. My post was quoted in The Buffalo News and I will repeat that here: Kryzan has to win us over just like Jon won us over. I mean that.
As for Jon, he poured his heart into this campaign. Maybe if this was a campaign that was in existence for six months or so he would have an easier time. But he was in this race back in June 2007. That's 15 months he spent out on the trail talking with voters. He loved every minute of it. He loved having the opportunity to meet new people, talk about the issues that matter to them and address a crowd of supporters.
We ALL need a little while to get over the hump. I don't think it should be necessary to ask for some respect. We need that respect to get over that hump. If we don't get it, it will only make matters worse.
That said, Alice Kryzan can do a couple of things that will help her:
- Reach out to the rural counties. Jon Powers has supporters all over this district but it was in the rural counties where he had a strong base. He won all four rural counties for a reason. Kryzan needs to reach out to these counties and show that they are equals with Erie, Monroe and Niagara counties. We might not have as many people, but we need to feel relevant. Tom Reynolds hasn't done that. We need a representative who will realize the importance of the whole district, not just the most populous parts.
- Seek Jon's advice. Let's face it: Jon got to know this district pretty well. If she turns to him, that will make things go a lot more smoothly. Think of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Obama would have had a lot of trouble if he didn't reach out to Hillary and her supporters. On a smaller scale, the same thing needs to happen here.
- Apologize for the War Kids Relief smear that she included in her only attack ad. That needs to be addressed. It sticks out like a sore thumb and people want some respect shown to Jon for War Kids Relief. This was a man who served his country in Iraq and decided to go back to start a non-profit. We shouldn't attack such service to our country. Kryzan certainly didn't start the smear. But her campaign did utilize this in an ad.
It will be interesting to see how this develops moving forward. What I know is that I have a good friend in Jon Powers and the family and friends who associate with him are also friends of mine. This campaign was a family. This was a movement. We made waves. Unfortunately, there's only so much you can do when the leader of this movement had his character killed.