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Democrat Dana Balter is running against three-time incumbent Rep. John Katko (R-Camillus) to represent New York’s 24th Congressional District.

Katko defeated Balter by about 6% in the 2018 congressional race for the district, which includes Onondaga, Wayne and Cayuga counties and parts of Oswego County.

With two days until Election Day, here’s everything you need to know about the state of the race:

A tight race

Balter and Katko are tied at 45%, according to an Oct. 25 poll by Siena College and Syracuse.com. A previous poll in early October had Balter leading by two percentage points.

Balter leads by over 30 percentage points in the city of Syracuse and by about five percentage points in Onondaga County, according to the Oct. 25 poll. Katko leads by about 20% in areas outside of Onondaga County.

The poll also found that Balter has greater support among women voters while Katko leads among men. A greater percentage of Katko voters plan to vote in-person on Election Day, while Balter’s supporters are more likely to have voted by mail or in-person through early voting.

Rematch

In the 2018 Congressional election, Katko led by over 20% in Cayuga and Wayne counties and parts of Oswego county. Balter won a slim majority in Onondaga County, earning about 50.2% of votes. Balter conceded the election to Katko and publicly announced her defeat on Election Night.

Polls from Siena College, Syracuse.com and Spectrum News from the 2018 election predicted Katko’s victory over Balter by about 15 percentage points, 10 points more than Katko’s actual margin of victory. While Balter led the poll within the city of Syracuse, Katko was predicted to win every county in the district.

Previous experience

Both Balter and Katko have ties to Syracuse University.

Katko, a graduate of the Syracuse University College of Law, served as a federal prosecutor for 20 years before he was first elected to the United States House of Representatives in November 2014. He was a senior trial attorney at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission before working at the Department of Justice. He later returned to Camillus and worked in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of New York.

Katko served in the criminal division of the Justice Department and held positions such as narcotics chief, coordinator of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and grand jury coordinator. He retired from the department in January 2013 to begin his congressional campaign.

Balter, a former professor in SU’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, has worked as the director of education at a disability services nonprofit organization and as a teacher.

She also attended graduate school at SU. After experiencing a serious concussion, Balter paused her education and finished her degree at SU after recovering.

Following the 2016 election, Balter became involved in community organizing before launching her 2018 congressional campaign. She announced her 2020 campaign in April 2019.

NY-24 history

New York’s 24th Congressional District has changed hands between Democrats and Republicans several times in the past decade.

Before Katko won the seat in 2014, Democrat Dan Maffei served as the district’s representative for one term. Richard Hanna, a Republican, preceded Maffei.

Katko is also one of the few Republican congressional representatives in New York to retain a seat in a district carried by Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. Former president Barack Obama won the district in both the 2008 and 2012 elections.

If elected, Balter would be the first woman to represent New York’s 24th Congressional District.

Published on November 1, 2020 at 9:37 pm

Contact Mira: mlberenb@syr.edu