After a hotly contested primary Pam Helming has become the Republican candidate for NYS Senator in the 54th District.  Helming won the endorsements of the six Republican committees within the district from a field of about a dozen candidates, but as the primary progressed she and Ontario County businessman Floyd Rayburn emerged as the lead candidates.

"I am very grateful for the support of the primary voters," Helming said.  "Over the coming weeks I look forward to meeting with as many residents as I can across the six county district so I can learn first-hand their individual concerns. Having an open line of communication with constituents is paramount in allowing me to best serve our region.  My plan is to continue to work hard to secure a victory in November. As your State Senator, I will continue to fight for Upstate and what's in the best interest of the hardworking taxpayers and families of this great region."

Both Helming and Rayburn were in Lansing September 9th for a Tompkins County Republicans dinner dance in honor of outgoing Senator Mike Nozzolio.  The next Tuesday Helming claimed victory with 3,663 votes to Rayburn's 3,473, a 190 vote spread.  Brian Manktelow was next with 2,003 votes, followed by Sean Hanna (1,300), Jon Ritter (890) and 36 write-ins.

"I want to thank the people of the 54th Senate District for their faith and trust in me and their grassroots support of our campaign, she said shortly after the primary.  Because of them, we won our primary and I can't thank them enough.  Tonight, they sent a message that they want a strong, common sense Conservative to fight for them to clean up Albany and get government off the backs of small businesses who actually create the jobs we need."

Even after the primary Helming and Rayburn locked horns over absentee ballots, with Rayburn accusing the Helming campaign of trying to suppress those votes when they were impounded in Ontario County by Judge Frederick Reed in response to arguments made by the at the pleading of the Helming campaign and the State Senate Republican Campaign Committee.

Rayburn conceded defeat after the absentee ballots were counted, but accused the Helming campaign of using 'shady funding sources' in Albany.  Rayburn said the post primary financial filing said Helming collected only $1100 from individual donors, but $115,000 from the New York State Senate Campaign Committee and another $5500 from the State Republican Committee. Her filing says all of that money, $110,000 went to television advertising placed by a Washington DC firm.

"It’s unbelievable that someone who can’t be truthful about who is funding her campaign will serve the voters’ interests in Albany," Rayburn said.  "It’s one thing to not agree with who is funding a campaign whether it be a big developer as we’ve seen in the string of Cuomo linked corruption cases, or foreign governments as we see with Hillary Clinton, but in Helming’s case, she wants to continue to hide her sources of financing."

Rayburn will be on the ballot on November 8th because he won the Reform Party line in the primary election.

"It was great to meet so many voters, get their ideas on what’s needed in Albany and I plan to build on those ideas.  If it wasn’t a five way race, I’m confident we could have won despite being outspent two to one," said Rayburn.  "Less than a third of voters cast a ballot for the endorsed candidate so we’re now weighing our options.  I still believe the state would prefer we abandon elections all together and just let the state leaders pick."

But Helming is undeterred.  She will continue a vigorous campaign against Democratic candidate Kenan Baldridge, who will be in Lansing to hold a Town Hall meeting at the Lansing Community Center Wednesday, October 5 at 7pm.

"My plan is to continue to work hard to secure a victory in November," Helming said in a statement last Friday.  "As your State Senator, I will continue to fight for Upstate and what's in the best interest of the hardworking taxpayers and families of this great region."

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