Rep. Tim Bishop’s chief Republican opponent has raised more than half a million dollars in less than three months, placing him among the top three GOP challengers in the country, his campaign told supporters Wednesday.
Randy Altschuler, a Wall Street entrepreneur and former bundler for John McCain’s presidential campaign, said in a strategy memo that the final tally for the latest fund-raising quarter would come to just over $538,000, drawing national attention to Bishop’s district and helping him win valuable support from national Republicans.
“We will have the financial position that we need to run the campaign necessary to defeat Tim Bishop,” Altschuler said in an interview Wednesday night. “There’s a lot of positive support from the national party.”
Bishop has handily defeated each of his Republican opponents since he first won election to Congress in 2002. The district stretches from the working-class hamlets of Smithtown to Long Island’s tony east end.
But protests at Bishop’s town hall meetings over the summer threw a national klieg light on the district. Republicans in Washington now say that they can make the seat competitive with a well-funded Republican candidate like Altschuler.
“He is impressing people in the first district and he’s generating significant momentum,” said an official with the National Republican Campaign Committee, who did not want to be named while discussing internal strategy before the NRCC chooses a candidate. “He’s put up some impressive numbers and an impressive infrastructure.”
Altschuler has already met with national Republicans about winning their support, and has so far reached or exceeded each of the benchmarks laid down for him by the NRCC. His campaign, which is being run by former Mitt Romney aide and NRCC operative Chris Maloney, expects to raise a total of at least $2 million, the minimum the NRCC prefers to see before committing to a Republican challenger.
Altschuler has also rolled out endorsements from local Republican officials, such as Assembly Member Michael Fitzpatrick and former Republican gubernatorial candidate John Faso. Already, he has built a campaign of at least 100 volunteers, which he has loaned out to local lawmakers for their campaigns.
Will Jenkins, a spokesman for Bishop, said in a statement: “Congressman Bishop is focused on rebuilding our economy and creating more jobs rather than on next year’s election.”
Assembly Member Phil Boyle, who has managed several congressional campaigns in Suffolk, said Altschuler’s showing would immediately make him a national Republican prospect.
“With Randy, it changes the dynamic completely,” Boyle said. “This is Tim Bishop’s worst nightmare.”
sgentile@cityhallnews.com
