After being accused of stealing lines from another candidate’s campaign website, New York Democratic congressional hopeful Max Della Pia lost his slim lead in his party’s primary after absentee ballots were counted on Monday.
Democrat Tracy Mitrano edged out Della Pia, reported WRFA. Della Pia was criticized when his campaign website was found to contain multiple sentences that were nearly identical to language found on former Georgia Democratic congressional candidate Jon Ossoff’s website, reported The Buffalo News.
“Max will defend equal pay for equal work and fight any effort to allow wage discrimination against women or minorities,” Della Pia’s website states, reported The Buffalo News.
Ossoff’s website was nearly identical: “Jon will defend equal pay for equal work and fight any effort to allow wage discrimination against women or minorities.” (RELATED: The Power Of The Protesting Employee: Big Tech Companies Are Being Taken Over By Low-Level Workers)
There were nearly 20 such similar statements about Della Pia’s past experiences, including views on health care. Ossoff lost a 2017 House special election that was regarded as the most expensive congressional race in history.
Della Pia’s spokeswoman Aubrey Stuber blamed the nearly identical sentences on an unnamed volunteer who was told to draw inspiration from Ossoff’s website. Stuber said the campaign would begin rewriting the website on Friday.
“It was a mistake that the campaign didn’t ensure the language provided by that volunteer was checked for originality, and one for which we take full responsibility,” Stuber said, according to The Buffalo News. “However, voters can be confident that the views expressed on the website are consistent with Max’s stances on the issues.”
Della Pia, a retired Air Force brigadier general, had a slender margin of 0.12 percent over his Democratic rival Tracy Mitrano before the absentee ballot count. Mitrano will face Republican incumbent Rep. Tom Reed in the general election.
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