Lawmaker halts re-election bid
Facing charges, Collins says move best for GOP, N.Y. district.
Days after federal prosecutors charged him with insider trading, Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., announced Saturday that he was abandoning his re-election bid.
The move was spurred in part by worries that his legal troubles could make vulnerable his otherwise solidly Republican district in western New York.
How exactly the suspension of Collins’ campaign would play out was not immediately clear, as the process to get off the ballot can be onerous in New
York.
Collins did not say how he would remove himself.
Collins, who was the first member of Congress to endorse Donald Trump for president in 2016, had initially vowed to stay on the ballot this fall but said Saturday that he had decided it was “in the best interests” of his district, “the Republican Party and President Trump’s agenda” to suspend his bid.
Federal prosecutors have charged Collins with using his seat on the board of a small Australia-based drug company, Innate Immunotherapeutics, to tip off his son and others that the company had failed a critical scientific trial before that information was made public.
His son and others dumped shares in a frantic rush and averted hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses, prosecutors say.
“I look forward to having my good name cleared of any wrongdoing,” Collins said Saturday, adding that he would stay in Congress through the rest of his term.
His district, which covers the areas between Buffalo and Rochester, is one of the state’s most conservative. The district gave Trump one of his strongest showings in New York in the 2016 election, garnering nearly 60 percent of the vote.
Collins’ indictment immediately thrust his seat onto the national battleground map. But if Republicans can successfully remove him, the candidate they replace him with would have an edge given the district’s conservative tilt. Even after the indictment of Collins, nonpartisan political handicappers said winning the seat would be a steep climb for Democrats.
One Republican official familiar with the discussions said the party would probably try to nominate Collins for a county clerkship somewhere else in New York, in an effort to meet the legal requirements to remove him from the congressional ballot.
Complicating matters are New York’s election laws: Collins is set to be on the ballot not just on the Republican line but also as an Independence Party candidate. That party, too, would have to agree to his decision, then find a way to remove him.
Collins is also the nominee of the Conservative Party. Michael Long, the party chairman, said Saturday that he had spoken with Collins and would do whatever was necessary to remove him from the ballot.
“If he so desires, that’s fine with me,” Long said.
The Democratic candidate in the race, Nate McMurray, the town supervisor of Grand Island, called on Collins to resign immediately, saying he “should not be running for this or any other seat, a fact that the local Republican Party knew full well when they endorsed and celebrated him while he was under investigation for securities fraud.”
Collins’ decision to suspend his re-election bid set off a scramble for the Republican nomination, with Stefan Mychajliw, the Erie County comptroller, announcing his candidacy within hours.
If Collins is successfully removed from the ballot, then local party leaders, not the voters, will select the Republican nominee.
Other candidates are expected to vie for the nomination.
“I respect Chris Collins’ decision to step down while he faces these serious allegations,” Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, the chairman of the House Republican campaign committee, said in a statement. “As I’ve said before, Congress must hold ourselves to the highest possible standard.”