Incumbent	John McHugh
Party	Republican
Seeking Re-election?	Likely
Candidate Website	House Website
Other Resources	Congresspedia profile on John McHugh

2004 Presidential Vote	Bush - 51.03% Kerry - 46.86%
2006 Election Margin	McHugh - 63.15% Johnson - 36.85%
Voter Registration	As at 4/1/07 Dem - 115,660 (29.50%) Rep - 173,376 (44.22%) Other - 103,050 (26.28%)
District Blog(s)	McHugh Watch

Challenger	Mike Oot (Attorney)
Party	Democratic
Source of Information	House Race Hotline, 9/28/07; Media Story FEC
Candidate Website	Campaign Website
Other Resources	Congresspedia Profile on Mike Oot

Potential Challenger	Robert Johnson
Party	Democratic
Source of Information	2006 Candidate
Candidate Website	Campaign Website site down 3/21/08

Withdrawn Challenger	Jeremy Brunton
Party	Democratic
Source of Information	The Albany Project- Cites interest in running, withdrew for the time due to pressure from the party. Will run for a county seat in November, judge congressional future from that result.
Candidate Website

Background Information

New York's 23rd Congressional District primarily covers most of the Northern Adirondacks and the St. Lawerence Seaway regions. The district is ancestral Republican territory and has been represented by Representatitive John M. McHugh (R - Pierrepont Manor) since 1992 when David O'Brien Martin (R - Canton) retired. The 23rd district is now the only remaining Eastern Upstate New York congressional district still being held by a Republican.

Although the 23rd district continues to maintain a fairly large GOP registration advantage, Bush only carried the district with 51% in 2004, and Al Gore narrowly won the district under the previous configuration in 2000. This is largely due to the fact that the northern portion of the district, along the Canadian border, now consistently votes Democratic in presidential elections. (Franklin and St. Lawrence have gone Democratic in every presidential election since 1992 and Clinton has gone Democratic in every presidential election since 1996) The counties to the south, however, are much more Republican and conservative in their politics, and were all carried by George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.

2008

John McHugh has never really faced a serious challenger throughout his 15 year career and has always won by large margins. However, things could be different in 2008, as now nearly every congressional district surrounding the 23rd District is in Democratic hands, and McHugh is one of the only Republican representatives left in the Northeast in a district which only narrowly tilts toward the GOP in federal elections.

Besides this, New York Democrats may also consider giving McHugh a serious challenge in 2008 to force the Republican Party to devote resources away from other Upstate New York districts, such as the 20th and the 24th, which are now being held by freshman Democrats.

McHugh's 2004 and 2006 challenger, Dr. Robert Johnson, recently launched a blog critical of McHugh's record, titled McHugh Watch, leaving some speculating whether Johnson will atempt to challenge McHugh for a third time.

District Map