Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Bob Turner Wins Weiner's District For GOP: "I Am The Messenger!"
By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 14, 2011
Modified Sep 14, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 14, 2011
Modified Sep 14, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Bob Turner, a Queens businessman, crushed the presumptive heir to Anthony Weiner's vacated House seat yesterday, winning the 9th Congressional District by a margin of more than eight percent (with 84 percent of districts counted just after midnight). Republicans are characterizing the special election victory as a stern rebuke of President Obama, and a sign that White House is theirs for the taking. Turner's opponent, David Weprin, has not yet formally conceded, but last night Turner told his exultant supporters:
We have lit one candle today. It’s going to be a bonfire pretty soon. We’ve been asked by the people of this district to send a message to Washington — and I hope they hear it loud and clear: Mr. President, we are on the wrong track. We've had it with your irresponsible fiscal policy which endangers the entire economy and every one of our social safety nets. We have had it with your treatment of Israel... We are unhappy. I am the messenger. Heed us.
As you can see in the video below, Turner's Israel comment got the biggest cheer during the victory speech, and some analysts believe Turner's focus on Obama's Israel policies proved decisive in the heavily Jewish district. Former Mayor Ed Koch threw his support behind Turner early in the race, urging the former TV executive to forcefully repudiate Obama's call for the creation of a Palestinian state along the borders which existed before the 1967 Six Day War. (This didn't differ much from President Clinton's policy, but Obama was the first to publicly announce it.) Weprin also struggled to win over Orthodox Jewish voters because of his support for marriage equality.
Other analysts see the Republican victory less as an omen for Obama's reelection bid than as a failure of the Queens Democratic machine. "They picked a candidate, rested on their laurels and wrote off Brooklyn," one frustrated Democratic elected official tells City Hall News, which has an insightful analysis of the upset. "Everybody knows special elections are difficult," says County Clerk Audrey Pheffer. "Is this something Obama will look at as a reflection on him? Does he realize that? Or was this just a TV producer who knew how to spin things? He took one statement from Koch and turned it into a campaign."
But voter dissatisfaction with the wrecked economy—a potentially fatal millstone that George W. Bush hung around Obama's neck—cannot be denied. One Queens voter told the Times yesterday, "I am a registered Democrat, I have always been a registered Democrat, I come from a family of Democrats — and I hate to say this, I voted Republican. I need to send a message to the president that he’s not doing a very good job. Our economy is horrible. People are scared." And who better to get us out of this mess than the party that got us into it? Perry 2012!
Tagged
9th district
anthony weiner
bob turner
Congress
david weprin
israel
obama
special election
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. ET
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .