Dan Maffei
Dan Maffei | |
|---|---|
| File:Dan Maffei.jpg | |
| Democratic nominee for U.S. House of Representatives from New York, 25th District | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 4, 1968 Syracuse, New York |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Abby Davidson-Maffei |
| Residence | DeWitt, New York |
| Alma mater | Brown University, Columbia University, Harvard University |
| Occupation | journalist, congressional aide, campaign manager, business owner |
| Website | www.maffeiforcongress.com |
Daniel B. "Dan" Maffei (born July 4, 1968 in Syracuse, NY) is a former aide to U.S. Senators Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Bill Bradley, and U.S. Congressman Charlie Rangel, and the 2008 Democratic candidate for New York's 25th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. In 2006 Maffei came close to unseating then nine-term Republican Congressman James T. Walsh, losing by a narrow 3,913 votes.
Biography
Maffei was born in Syracuse, New York, and currently resides in the suburb of DeWitt. He graduated from Syracuse's Nottingham Senior High School in 1986, and continued on to receive a B.A. in history from Brown University in 1990, an M.A. in journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1991, and an M.P.P. from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1995 [1] [2].
Upon graduating from Columbia, Maffei went to work as a reporter and producer for Syracuse's ABC affiliate WSYR-TV from 1991 to 1993 and part-time reporter for a Watertown news station through 1995. He was press secretary for U.S. Senator Bill Bradley in 1996, then served in the same post for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan from 1997 to 1998. After working on Senator Bradley's presidential campaign from 1998 to 1999, Maffei went to work for ranking U.S. Representative Charlie Rangel from 1999 to 2005, serving as a senior staff member of the House Ways and Means Committee.
In 2005, Maffei returned to Syracuse to coordinate the successful 2005 re-election campaign of Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll. Following his successful return, Maffei decided to make his first bid for public office, running against then popular nine-term U.S. Congressman Jim Walsh. He earned the Democratic nomination and came within two percentage points of defeating Walsh in the general election, the narrowest margin of victory the incumbent had seen. Maffei won in the City of Syracuse and the rest of Onondaga County, Walsh's home turf, as well as Monroe County.
Currently Maffei is the Senior Vice President for Corporate Development at consulting firm Pinnacle Capital Management [3], as well as a frequent guest lecturer at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
2008 Congressional campaign
On January 24, 2008, after Maffei had already mounted a strong opposition campaign, Jim Walsh announced that he would not be running for an eleventh term. In March, 2008, after Democratic Mayor Driscoll announced he would not be running for the seat, Maffei was virtually assured of the Democratic nomination, and ran unopposed in the Democratic primary on September 9th. After it appeared he might run unopposed in the general election, on April 2 Republican Dale Sweetland, coming of a narrowly unsuccessful 2007 bid for Onondaga County Executive, announced he'd oppose Maffei.
Maffei is leading heavily in campaign contributions, nearly ten times rival Sweetland's, and has an edge in most of the major political projections. Pundits from CQ Politics the Cook Report, the Rothenberg Report, ranking it as lean Democrat to Democrat favored [4]. In May 2008, and again on June 20, 2008, the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza, author of "The Fix", ranked the race as the #1 Congressional race to turn over from a "Red" seat to a "Blue" seat 2008.[5][6]
Electoral history
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | James T. Walsh (incumbent) | 110,525 | 50.8 | -39.6 | |
| Democratic | Dan Maffei | 107,108 | 49.2 | +49.2 | |
| Majority | 3,417 | 1.6 | -79.2 | ||
| Turnout | 217,633 | 100 | +4.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Dan Maffei | ||||
| Republican | Dale Sweetland | ||||
| Green | Howie Hawkins | ||||
| Majority | |||||
| Turnout | |||||
References
- ^ Maffei For Congress - About Dan
- ^ "Campaign as Classroom: Dan Maffei (MPP 1995) on lessons learned" - John F. Kennedy School of Government - News
- ^ Pinnacle Capital Management People
- ^ CQ Politics Projected Landscape, New York's Delegation to the U.S. House
- ^ Chris Cillizza. "Friday House Line: Dems Could Gain 20 Seats", "The Fix", The Washington Post, June 6 2008. Retrieved on 2008-06-28.
- ^ Chris Cillizza. "Generic Ballot Distress for House GOP", "The Fix", The Washington Post, June 20 2008. Retrieved on 2008-06-28.
External links
- Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
- Dan Maffei for U.S. Congress campaign website