Kim Myers spoke at the Community Restaurant in Cortland Tuesday morning. She is running as a Democrat to represent the 22nd congressional district (Peter Blanchard/Cortland Voice)
CORTLAND, N.Y. — The Democratic candidate running for New York’s 22nd congressional district came to Cortland earlier this week to meet with local leaders as part of her bid to replace Republican Rep. Richard Hanna’s seat in the November election.
Kim Myers, who announced her congressional bid in March, met with about 30 people at the Community Restaurant on Main Street in Cortland Tuesday morning. Those in attendance included Cortland Mayor Brian Tobin, alderperson John Bennett and Michael McMahon, co-owner of E-Z Acres Farm in Homer and chairman of the Cortland County Industrial Development Agency.
Born and raised in Binghamton, Myers previously owned and operated a children’s clothing and toy store, served on the Vestal Board of Education and is currently on the Broome County Legislature, where she serves as Democratic minority leader. She is also a graduate of SUNY Cortland, where she studied elementary education.
Myers threw her hat into the ring two months after Republican state assemblywoman Claudia Tenney announced her intentions to replace Rep. Richard Hanna’s seat. Tenney is more conservative than Hanna and has accused of him of being liberal in his policymaking decisions.
Hanna announced late last year he would not seek re-election. More recently, he made national headlines last month after stating that he would vote for Hillary Clinton in the November election, the only Republican member of Congress to do so.
Related: Hanna says Trump unfit to lead, will vote for Clinton
As it turns out, Clinton may not be the only Democrat that Hanna will support in the 2016 election.
In December, Myers said she received a phone call from Hanna when she was considering running for his seat. According to Myers, Hanna told her that he believes she can win the seat and has “the power and ability to help individual people in [her] constituency.”
“That was one of the deciding factors for me,” Myers said.
The 22nd congressional district includes the counties of Cortland, Chenango, Madison and Oneida, as well as parts of Broome, Herkimer, Oswego and Tioga counties.
