Michael Kicinski, who polled nearly a third of the Republican primary vote on Tuesday while losing to U.S. Rep. Richard L. Hanna in New York’s 22nd congressional district, wasted little time in announcing that he will remain in the race as a third-party candidate.
The 52-year-old Kicinski, an electronics engineer whose long-shot candidacy in the GOP primary had been endorsed by Carl Paladino and Doug Hoffman, will face Hanna and Democrat Dan Lamb, a longtime aide to retiring U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, in the general election.
Widely regarded as a moderate Republican, Hanna is one of only six Republicans in the U.S. House who refused to sign Grover Norquist’s “Taxpayer Protection Pledge.”
Running on the Republican, Conservative and Independence lines, Hanna defeated two-term Democratic incumbent Michael A. Arcuri by about 12,000 votes in 2010 to win his seat in Congress.
Kicinski, who attacked Hanna’s conservative credentials during the primary, arguing if elected that he would seek to severely curtail federal spending while supporting federal amendments prohibiting gay marriage and abortion — even in cases of rape and incest — plans to petition for a spot on the November ballot under the Tea Party Patriots line.
“We will be on the ballot in November,” Kicinski said confidently on Wednesday in announcing his determination to remain in the race.
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