NY-18th's Affordable Care Problem

NY-18^th‘s Democrat incumbent, Sean Patrick Maloney, is expected to win his district once again. But his Republican opponent, former Congresswoman Nan Hayworth, has given him a run for his money this cycle.

Maloney (D) - seanmaloney.house.gov

Hayworth has managed to spend almost half as much as Maloney, all while raising substantially less than the incumbent. More impressively, Hayworth has pitched in a pretty penny for her campaign. Both campaigns have seen lackluster support in terms of Small Contributions while larger donations make up a much greater proportion of their finances.

Looking at both the recent Siena poll and the industry contribution breakdown, we can observe where the money is coming from and how much the voters care about the issues this money is being spent on.

The Affordable Care Act data is a good example. 71% of Republican respondents would support repealing the healthcare reform act as opposed to just 31% of Democrats. This lines up with who they would vote for, 76% for Hayworth and 29% for Maloney, and political ideology, where 76% responded as conservative and 45% liberal who wanted to repeal the act.

Nan Hayworth (R) - nanhayworth.com

The finances behind the candidates tell part of the story too. Hayworth, an ACA opponent, has gotten $267,000 from the Health sector (think HMOs and professionals) while Maloney, an ACA supporter, has received less than half that amount. Healthcare is an important issue in the campaign but the data does not support either of their camps.