BUFFALO (WBEN) - On Thursday evening, Erie County Democrats are officially endorsing Nate McMurray for New York's 27th Congressional District, effectively giving him complete support from the district's eight county chairs.
Erie County Democratic Chair Jeremy Zellner says McMurray has put in an incredible amount of time and effort into the currently unrepresented district.
"At this point, Nate is the lone person standing," said Zellner. "He's been traveling this district for two years now, I think he's been in every part of the district 10 times, working hard to understand the issues that people are facing."
While McMurray admits that he would be an obvious underdog in this race, he hopes people will look to how he stood up to Chris Collins when considering who to vote for.
"The same people who are fighting for this position now on the GOP side are the people who backed Chris Collins," he began. "I hope, at the very least, people will understand that I had the courage to fight Chris Collins when people said that he was unbeatable, when people said I was a joke, and when he wouldn't debate me and he hid from me, I think they know that I have what it takes to stand up to anybody in Washington."
This past weekend, the eight Republican county chairs that comprise NY27 decided to endorse State Senator Chris Jacobs for the special election, but the process of selecting Jacobs was extremely secretive, something that has drawn criticism from GOP candidates, as well as McMurray.
"It's a mess - I mean, there's no way you can look at it and say this is not a mess," said McMurray when discussing the GOP's decision-making process. "They met in secret; it was a split vote; they're undecided because no one believes in the guy they chose, and it's going to get more messy.
"Even if they come together and say we're good with it, there has already been so many angry statements made," he continued. "I think anybody who looks at it objectively understands that they're in disarray, and they're in disarray because they have a history of picking bad candidates."
He says the difference between what the GOP did and what he has done has been quite dramatic.
"I went to every single town - we had meetings in diners...I met with hundreds and hundreds of people," said McMurray. "People saw me, and they know who I am, and even if they disagree with me, they know that I'm not going to lie to them and fake to pretend who I am so I can get some endorsement or nomination."