Brianne Murphy has withdrawn from the race to fill the former 25th Congressional District seat.
Murphy, an Irish lawyer who lives in Tipperary Hill, announced her run for the seat in November. She would be squaring off against Dan Maffei, who held the same seat for two years, before losing in a bitter battle with Republican Ann Marie Buerkle. That battle lasted nearly a month after election day in 2010.
Maffei received support and the endorsement from the Onondaga County Democrats last week. Murphy said she received 23 percent of the party’s vote.
Buerkle’s current sprawling district over four counties will morph into a Democrat-heavy seat for the November election. That district will be the 24th and will include Onondaga, Cayuga and Wayne County, and part of Oswego County.
“I think with redistricting, and the Democrats designating Dan, I think it’s important we unite our resources behind one candidate,” she said.
Murphy will continue playing a role in local politics, she said, but is supporting Maffei for the upcoming race.
“Dan and I have a lot of commonalities, in terms of our political leaning so I don’t take major issue with his political stances,” she said. “I think it’s most important we have a representative in Congress that we don’t have today.”
One man, Robert Paul Spencer, has declared his intent to challenge Buerkle for the Republican nod in the district.