WASHINGTON — Just a day after abruptly withdrawing from an upstate congressional election, Republican state Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava yesterday threw her support behind the Democrat in the race and asked her supporters to help defeat Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman.
“This is not a decision that I have made lightly,” Scozzafava said in an e-mail endorsement of Bill Owens yesterday.
“To address the tough challenges ahead, we must rise above partisanship.”
The e-mail went out hours after White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett wouldn’t deny reports that President Obama’s top aides were working to persuade Scozzafava to back Owens.
Jarrett went on to say Scozzafava’s withdrawal, after high-profile Republicans endorsed Hoffman, foreshadowed serious problems for the GOP.
“I think [the party] is becoming more and more extreme,” Jarrett said on ABC’s “This Week.”
The 23rd District, at the northern tip of the state, has not sent a non-Republican to Congress in more than a century.
The special election is scheduled for Tuesday.