Mychajliw tells Orleans County SCOPE he will seek 27th as staunch Trump supporter
Erie County Comptroller hasn’t officially made campaign announcement
Photos by Tom Rivers: Erie County Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw speaks on Monday evening to about 15 people at the Orleans County chapter of SCOPE (Shooters Committee on Political Education).
ALBION – Stefan Mychajliw has been holding off on an official announcement whether he will be seeking to run for the 27thCongressional District.
But Mychajliw made it clear on Monday in Albion that he will be running for Congress, and he expects to win next year.
Mychajliw said he is well-known in Western New York from his time as an investigative reporter in Buffalo, and for winning three elections as Erie County comptroller, running as a Republican in a county with a strong Democratic Party majority.
He said he wouldn’t be a RHINO (Republican in Name Only). He vowed to back an additional round of tax cuts, a reduction in government spending, and would be a strong ally of the president.
“President Trump needs a true conservative in the 27th District, not a fake RHINO Republican,” Mychajliw told about 15 people at the Orleans County SCOPE meeting on Monday evening at Hoag Library.
The 27th seat has been vacant since Chris Collins resigned in September. Gov. Andrew Cuomo hasn’t set a date for a special election to fill the vacancy. The governor said he would prefer to do it during the presidential primary on April 28.
Mychajliw said that date would have a big turnout from Democrats. That’s another reason for Republicans to back him because he has proven he has support from Democratic voters, without abandoning his conservative beliefs.
While speaking at SCOPE on Monday, Mychajliw said he would be a strong voice against “radical progressives” that have taking over the State Legislature and want to spread an anti-gun and pro-abortion platform to Washington, D.C.
Mychajliw said he is a 100 percent Trump supporter, and credited the president with the lowest unemployment rate ever for African Americans and Latinos.
“All of us have more money in our pockets,” Mychajliw said about the Trump tax cuts. “I would double down on the tax cuts.”
Stefan Mychajliw speaks with Orleans County SCOPE members on Monday evening at Hoag Library in Albion.
Mychajliw, a resident of Hamburg with a wife and three children, said he has been laying the groundwork the past year to run for the 27th, which covers eight counties. He said he will be ready to hit the ground running when he makes his official campaign announcement.
He would be running in a special election, then a likely Republican primary in June, and then another general election in November.
Mychajliw said his first act if a member of a Congress would be to join the Freedom Caucus, which consists of conservative Republicans in the House. He wouldn’t vote to raise the debt ceiling, an issue that has led to federal government shutdowns.
“Politicians need to go on a debt diet,” Mychajliw said. “The government should live within its means. I don’t support raising the debt ceiling because all that did is give politicians a blank check to spend more.”
One prominent Republican said he won’t be running for the vacated seat. David Bellavia, an Orleans County native and Medal of Honor recipient, announced last month he wouldn’t be running in the special election.
Two state senators, Rob Ortt and Chris Jacobs, are running, and so is attorney Beth Parlato, a former Darien town justice. Others, including Assemblyman Steve Hawley, may enter the race.
Mychajliw faulted Ortt and Jacobs for supporting Andrew Cuomo’s state budgets. Mychajliw said the two state senators would better serve the area by staying in the Senate, which has swung to a big Democratic Party majority. Republicans will be critical in the Legislature with redistricting coming up after the 2020 Census, Mychajliw said.
The Democratic-led State Legislature, without a strong Republican voice, could draw district lines that make it nearly impossible for Republicans to win, including in the Congressional seats, Mychajliw said.
Nate McMurray, a Democrat, lost a very close election to Chris Collins about a year ago, even though Collins was under indictment for insider training. McMurray has already secured the Democratic Party endorsements from seven of the eight counties. The district is the most Republican-leaning in the state.
Mychajliw said McMurray has little chance of winning after losing to Collins when the congressman was under indictment.
“He is a radical progressive who makes AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) look conservative,” Mychajliw said.
