Primary day a big day in Empire State

A litany of late primaries in New York on Tuesday will cement some of November’s most challenging races for both Democrats and Republicans.

Democrats are hoping to pick up seats in New York’s 13th and 26th districts, where scandal-plagued Rep. Vito Fossella (R) and five-term Rep. Tom Reynolds (R), respectively, are retiring.

{mosads}In Reynolds’s suburban Buffalo district, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has backed Iraq veteran Jon Powers in Tuesday’s primary, though businessman Jack Davis hopes to get another shot after losing to Reynolds by four points in 2006.

Powers has raised over $1 million in the race to date, though he had spent almost $850,000 through mid-August. Davis has kept the fundraising pace by lending his campaign more than $1.3 million, including a $100,000 personal contribution on Aug. 27.

The winner of that Democratic race will face Republican businessman Chris Lee. Lee is a rare Republican this election cycle: He is one of only a handful of Republican candidates favored in a race to succeed a retiring GOP incumbent.

Democrats also have high hopes to capture Fossella’s seat in November, and have banked on New York City Councilman Michael McMahon, who has garnered the DCCC’s endorsement.

McMahon will have to first fend off a challenge Tuesday from Fossella’s 2006 opponent, Steve Harrison.

McMahon has a major fundraising advantage that should help him carry the race, and a late August SurveyUSA poll showed McMahon winning easily, with 64 percent of voters’ support, while Harrison garnered 18 percent. Another 18 percent said they were undecided in the primary.

Local Republicans chose former state Assemblyman Bob Straniere as their candidate. While Straniere hopes party backing will spur him to victory, Staten Island GOP Finance Chairman Jamshad “Jim” Wyne has taken out $300,000 in loans, which have allowed him to spend almost $110,000 on the race through mid-August, while Straniere spent $3,200 through the same period.

In two other primaries Tuesday, the Democratic primary will serve as the de facto election in left-leaning districts.

In the 21st district, voters will look to choose a successor to Rep. Michael McNulty (D), who is retiring. And in the 10th, Rep. Edolphus Towns (D) looks to fend off a challenge on his left from former reality-TV star Kevin Powell.

There are three major candidates looking to succeed McNulty.

A former aide to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Tracey Brooks, has led in the money race, bringing in more than $560,000 in the cycle to date. Brooks has been endorsed by the National Organization for Women (NOW).

Former Assemblyman Paul Tonko joined the race late and has raised over $260,000 to date, notching labor endorsements from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and other groups. Albany County legislator Phil Steck has raised a competitive $450,000 and has also been endorsed by the Albany County Democratic Party.

A late-June poll from Tonko’s campaign showed him having 42 percent of voters’ support, with Brooks at 14 percent and Steck at 6.

The winner will likely face Republican- and Conservative Party-backed candidate James Buhrmaster.

Powell, 42, appeared on MTV’s “The Real World” in its first season and has made Towns’s support of Clinton over Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) an issue.

Still, Towns is predicted to win, having outraised Powell 10-to-1 and having spent 21 times as much.