"We are very bullish on the district," Sillin says. "There are two good candidates. We will wait and see what happens. We are certainly optimistic about our opportunity."
The NRCC plans on drawing similarities between Democratic Rep. Kathy Hochul and President Barack Obama, who is unpopular in the district. But aligning Hochul and Obama could prove challenging.
Hochul has established a moderate record in Congress since assuming office, crossing party lines by voting for both the balanced budget amendment and the Keystone XL Pipeline.
"Representative Hochul has established a record of being an independent voice for western New York," says Frank Thomas, Hochul's campaign manager. "She was the only New York Democrat to vote for the balanced budget amendment and has consistently crossed party lines to cut the deficit the right way."
Hochul won the tough special election in May 2011 in New York's 26th District after Rep. Chris Lee resigned from Congress after a scandal in which he E-mailed a photo of himself shirtless to a Maryland woman he met on Craigslist and the photo and subsequent exchanges were leaked to the website Gawker.
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