Old Rival Lee Zeldin Challenges Tim Bishop Again
New York State Senator Lee Zeldin, who unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Representative Tim Bishop for his seat in Congress in 2008, made it official Monday that he is entering the 2014 congressional race.
Zeldin, a Republican who lives in Shirley, received 41.6 percent of the vote in 2008. In 2010 he ran for state Senate and ousted incumbent Democrat Brian Foley. He was re-elected in 2012 when he bested Democrat Francis T. Genco. Meanwhile, in both the 2010 and 2012 congressional elections, Bishop faced—and defeated—Republican Randy Altschuler.
It is too early to tell if Zeldin will, in fact, be on the ballot opposing Bishop, a Democrat who lives in Southampton. Both men could face primary election opponents.
George Demos, who waged Republican primary battles for the congressional nomination in 2010 and 2012—losing in 2010 and dropping out in 2012—said on his website October 1 that he is planning a formal announcement of his intention to run for Congress again. Demos is a Shelter Island native who now resides in Holbrook. He was a federal Securities and Exchange Commission prosecutor,
Zeldin, a lawyer, is a veteran U.S. Army paratrooper and still a reservist. Before being elected to Congress for the first time in 2002, Bishop was the provost of Southampton College.
Bishop won his sixth two-year term last November.
Zeldin announced his second congressional contest with a two-and-a-half-minute video.