Robert J. Mccarthy: Analysis: Surviving Cheektowaga's political gauntlet

Nov. 22--Monica Wallace was among those candidates sweating it out over the past two weeks as New York and Erie County took a "breather" from vote counting.

More on that some other Sunday.

But when all the absentee votes were finally tabulated on Tuesday, the former federal court law clerk and current adjunct professor at SUNY Buffalo Law School had prevailed for a third term representing the 143rd Assembly District.

This time, it was not easy for Democrat Wallace. She suddenly found herself scrapping against a little known, unemployed Republican named Frank Smierciak, who seemed to push the right buttons in the Cheektowaga/Lancaster district.

That turf will always provide some of New York State's most interesting politics. Cheektowaga, especially, has always represented a place where Republicans can win -- even though the town is heavily Democratic, blue collar, ethnic and Catholic -- the kind of voters Dems want to claim as their own.

Other voters in places such as Cheektowaga represent the voters Joe Biden reclaimed from Donald Trump this year (though the final count on the Cheektowaga presidential race is not finalized).

But this year, Wallace had to fight for her political life.

"It's just the nature of the district," she told the Politics Column last week. "It's a robust place where ideas are exchanged and voters will select the candidate who best represents their values."

Yup. And it's where the 29-year-old Smierciak let loose with this year's universal message for Assembly candidates. He railed against bail reform laws (on which Wallace called for "balance"), decried the Democrat's "anti-police agenda" and generally aimed at the district's relatively conservative voters.

Indeed, though mostly Democrats have represented the district for generations, Wallace was the first in memory to be elected without backing from the Conservative Party. And no matter how you slice it, she won again.

Smierciak did not answer phone calls after the count was finalized, but he seemed to hit voter sensitivities in the days before election with fliers, Facebook ads and TV spots linking Wallace to her support of abortion rights -- focusing on late term abortions.

Wallace is still steaming about Smierciak's ads, which she said improperly represent her stand. She does not support the late term procedure unless the life or health of the mother is threatened, or a doctor determines the pregnancy is not viable.

And this is where it gets tricky, since Smierciak's ad bent over backward to link her with support for late term abortions. Wallace says her "yes" vote on the reproductive health act simply "codified" Roe v. Wade -- which allows for such procedures under her conditions.

"The way the Republicans portray it is that you can terminate a healthy pregnancy, that a woman can say 'Y'know what? I don't want this baby, let's get rid of it,'" she said. "That is not true. It's disgusting and dangerous."

But Smierciak jumped on it -- because she voted for it (based on conditions she deemed acceptable). And yes or no votes leave little room for explanations.

In addition, the people who sponsored the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of ads spent on both sides in the 143rd -- or elsewhere -- don't care about nuances and legal interpretations.

All of this has little to do with the assemblywoman's views on abortion, and lots to do with how various candidates appeal to the district's unique voters. The bet here is that the GOP will in the future very likely sponsor a better known and better financed candidate with the same message, whether entirely true or "fine tuned" by political consultants.

Indeed, Assembly Republicans have learned they can compete against an accomplished Democrat in an overwhelmingly Democratic district. They will be back.

In the meantime, Wallace prevailed. So did her views on all kinds of subjects -- despite the politics of it all. "That's the nature of a swing district," she said, "and it is a swing district."

___

(c)2020 The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.)

Visit The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.) at www.buffalonews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.