The man who took disgraced representative Anthony Weiner’s seat trumpeted his Tuesday win as a sign of backlash against President Barack Obama.
Queens businessman Bob Turner beat assemblyman David Weprin in a race that was tight leading up the election. Turner will be the first Republican to represent the 9th Congressional District since 1920.
Celebrating his win, Turner said that the race was a national referendum and that many others would follow.
“We’ve been asked by the people of this district to send a message to Washington,” Turner said.
Other Republicans chimed in, saying that the win should be a warning for Obama at the beginning of his re-election campaign. But not everyone was convinced that the local race had national implications.
“I think we tend to read into individual races that may have local inputs and we try to expand it and say that changed the whole world,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. “It’s not the end of the Obama administration.”
In a Public Policy Polling survey two days before the race, voters reported discontent with President Obama, with a 31 percent approval rate in the district.
In 2008, Obama won with 55 percent of the support.
Follow Alison Bowen on Twitter @AlisonatMetro.