While most people watching New York congressional races have been focused on the upcoming special election to replace Republican Rep. John McHugh, the Democratic and Republican parties have each looked to finalize their choices for candidates to take on the other’s potentially vulnerable freshman member of Congress.

In Rep. Chris Lee’s (R-Niagara/Orleans/Genesee) Western New York district, national Democrats have recruited Sam Williams, head of the region’s chapter of the Working Families Party, as their candidate, according to two high-level Democratic sources with knowledge of the recruitment. Rep. Steve Israel (D-Suffolk), the head of candidate recruitment for the House Democratic Campaign Committee, has personally traveled to Western New York to convince Williams to run.

Williams, however, has yet to formally announce his candidacy. He declined comment.

In part, the early selection of Williams appears an attempt to head off the kind of nasty three-way Democratic primary that helped Lee overwhelmingly win election to an open seat in 2008, which Democrats had initially thought of as leaning their way.

Williams would enjoy strong backing from labor, not only because of his WFP ties, but also as a longtime New York representative for the United Auto Workers.

Nonetheless, he would still face an uphill battle, given the sizable Republican voter registration advantage in the district, Lee’s moderate voting record and ability to pour personal wealth into the campaign. Williams would also lack Barack Obama at the top of the ticket, leaving him to carry the campaign against an incumbent much more on his own shoulders.

Another option, several local Democrats suggested, was for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to punt on challenging Lee in 2010, then have the Legislature eliminate Lee’s seat during the next round of redistricting if Democrats maintain control of the State Senate.

“It would be tough for us to win that seat, but I would say that Sam Williams could make it a race,” said Erie County Democratic Party Chair Leonard Lenihan. “An effort to take that district out in redistricting would be highly likely.”

With McHugh’s departure, Lee and Rep. Peter King (R-Nassau) are for now the only Republican congressional representatives in New York, and the state is expected to lose one or two seats after the next census due to its declining upstate population.

Meanwhile, Rep. Eric Massa (D-Corning) has his first Republican challenger in Tom Reed, the mayor of the 11,000-person town of Corning, in the Southern Tier region.

Massa narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Randy Kuhl in 2008. He also will likely suffer from lacking Obama at the top of the ticket, helping make him one of the Republican Party’s top national targets.

Reed has already secured the endorsement of eight Republican County chairs in the district, the Monroe County Conservative Party and Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks, who many considered the most formidable potential challenger to Massa.

The National Republican Campaign Committee also has offered a positive response to Reed’s candidacy, raising money for him as part of their “Young Guns” program and bringing him to Washington, D.C., recently for four days of “Candidate School.”

There remains, however, a handful of political figures in the district—including Brooks, State Sens. Catherine Young and George Winner and Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb—who are still mentioned as possible candidates in the race. Their larger established constituencies and name recognition would allow them to wait longer before jumping in without sacrificing too much politically. Conservative talk radio host Bill Nojay has also openly expressed an interest in running, and said he has not yet been dissuaded by Reed’s entry.

Republican insiders believe that Reed chose to resign as mayor and begin his campaign 16 months before the 2010 election in an effort to head off these better-known Republican candidates. Reed would have to raise $1.5 million and in internal polls show a significant uptick in name recognition by next March, one said.

If Reed does accomplish these goals, the nomination would be his, the insider predicted, especially since there are Republican concerns that this seat could also be eliminated in redistricting should the GOP defeat Massa.

Reed, a lawyer and businessman before winning election as mayor in 2007, acknowledged that if he does not raise a substantial amount of money or his name recognition by the time petitioning starts next year, a better-known candidate would probably replace him in the race.

“If we can’t cut it—just like I would expect all of my own employees to cut it—then we would need to step aside,” Reed said. 

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ABOVE: Sixteen months out from the 2010 elections, Corning Mayor Tom Reed has announced his intentions to challenge Rep. Eric Massa.