Dan Maffei

Dan Maffei

Democratic Party

Prior offices

U.S. House New York District 25

Successor: Ann Marie Buerkle

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U.S. House New York District 24

Successor: John Katko

Predecessor: Richard L. Hanna

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Compensation

Net worth

(2012) $-7,998.50

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 4, 2014

Education

Bachelor's

Brown University

Graduate

Columbia University

Personal

Religion

Christian: Catholic

Profession

Journalist, Businessman

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Dan Maffei (b. July 4, 1968, in Syracuse, NY) was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives. Maffei was first elected to the House in 2008, representing New York's 25th Congressional District. He lost his 2010 election bid, but won election in 2012 to the 24th Congressional District.

In 2012, Maffei was one of only five House Democrats to win his seat back from freshman Republicans that had taken it two years earlier.

Maffei lost his 2014 re-election bid. He ran unopposed for the Democratic and Working Families Party nominations in the primary on June 24, 2014, but was then defeated by John Katko (R) in the general election.

Biography

Maffei worked as a television news reporter for Channel 9 in Syracuse, and he served as a communications and policy advisor for Senators Bill Bradley and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He served in the U.S. House from 2009 to 2011 and from 2013 to 2015.

Committee assignments

U.S. House

2013-2014

Maffei served on the following committees:

• Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces
  • Subcommittee on Intelligence, Emerging Threats and Capabilities
• Science, Space, and Technology
  • Subcommittee on Oversight - Ranking Member
  • Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics

Key votes

113th Congress

The second session of the 113th Congress enacted into law 224 out of the 3215 introduced bills (7 percent). Comparatively, the 112th Congress had 4.2 percent of introduced bills enacted into law in the second session. For more information pertaining to Maffei's voting record in the 113th Congress, please see the below sections.

National security

NDAA

Maffei voted in support of HR 1960 - the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014. The bill passed the House on June 14, 2013, with a vote of 315 - 108. Both parties were somewhat divided on the vote.

DHS Appropriations Act (2014)

Maffei voted in opposition of HR 2217 - the DHS Appropriations Act of 2014. The bill passed the House on June 6, 2013, with a vote of 245 - 182 and was largely along party lines.

Keystone Pipeline Amendment

Maffei voted in favor of House Amendment 69, which would have amended HR 3 to "require that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, conduct a study of the vulnerabilities of the Keystone XL pipeline to a terrorist attack and certify that necessary protections have been put in place." The amendment failed on May 22, 2013, with a vote of 176 - 239 and was largely along party lines.

CISPA (2013)

Maffei voted in support of HR 624 - the CISPA (2013). The bill passed the House on April 18, 2013, with a vote of 288 - 127. The bill permitted federal intelligence agencies to share cybersecurity intelligence and information with private entities and utilities. The bill was largely supported by Republicans, but divided the Democratic Party.

Economy

Farm Bill

See also: United States Farm Bill 2013

Maffei voted against the Farm Bill on July 11, 2013. The bill passed in a 216-208 vote. The bill passed included farm policy, but did not include food stamps.

Government shutdown

See also: United States budget debate, 2013

On September 30, 2013, the House passed a final stopgap spending bill before the shutdown went into effect. The bill included a one-year delay of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate and would have also stripped the bill of federal subsidies for congressional members and staff. It passed through the House with a vote of 228-201. At 1 a.m. on October 1, 2013, one hour after the shutdown officially began, the House voted to move forward with going to a conference. In short order, Sen. Harry Reid rejected the call to conference. Maffei voted to approve the stopgap spending bill that would have delayed the individual mandate.

The shutdown ended on October 16, 2013, when the House took a vote on HR 2775 after it was approved by the Senate. The bill to reopen the government lifted the $16.7 trillion debt limit and funded the government through January 15, 2014. Federal employees also received retroactive pay for the shutdown period. The only concession made by Senate Democrats was to require income verification for Obamacare subsidies. The House passed the legislation shortly after the Senate, by a vote of 285-144, with all 144 votes against the legislation coming from Republican members. Maffei voted for HR 2775.

Immigration

Morton Memos Prohibition

Maffei voted against House Amendment 136 - Prohibits the Enforcement of the Immigration Executive Order. The amendment was adopted by the House on June 6, 2013, with a vote of 224 - 201. The purpose of the amendment as stated on the official text is to "prohibit the use of funds to finalize, implement, administer, or enforce the Morton Memos." These memos would have granted administrative amnesty to certain individuals residing in the United States without legal status. The vote largely followed party lines.

Healthcare

Repealing Obamacare

Maffei has voted against attempts to repeal or delay the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Social issues

Abortion

Maffei voted against HR 1797 - Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. The resolution passed the House on June 18, 2013, with a vote of 228 - 196. The purpose of the bill was to ban abortions that would take place 20 or more weeks after fertilization.

Previous congressional sessions

Rep. Maffei voted for the stimulus bill. A total of 57 percent of U.S. voters believed that the stimulus had hurt the economy (36 percent) or had no impact (21 percent). Only 38 percent believed the stimulus helped the economy.

Maffei also voted in favor of the "Cash for Clunkers" bill. According to a June 2009 Rasmussen Reports poll, 54 percent of likely U.S. voters opposed Cash for Clunkers, while 35 percent supported it.

Maffei supported the "Cap and Trade" bill. Just after the bill’s passage, 42 percent of likely U.S. voters said that cap and trade would hurt the economy, while 19 percent believed it would help. Only 15 percent said that the bill would have no impact.

Finally, Maffei voted in favor of the health care reform bill. A total of 57 percent of likely voters at least somewhat favored repeal of the health care reform bill, including 46 percent who strongly favored repeal. About 35 percent of likely voters opposed repeal. A total of 51 percent of likely voters believed the health care reform bill would be bad for the country, while 36 percent believed it would be beneficial.

Campaign themes

2012

Maffei listed the following campaign themes on his website:

• Tax Relief
• Balanced Budget
• Retirement Security
• Iraq and Afghanistan
• Veterans
• Jobs
• Ending Bailouts
• Making Trade Work

Elections

2016

See also: New York's 24th Congressional District election, 2016

In January 2015, after losing his congressional seat to John Katko (R), Maffei announced in an interview that he would not seek to win back the seat in 2016. Maffei stated, "I have no plans to ever be involved as a candidate in electoral politics... I mean, you never say 'never.' But I just can't imagine at this point -- unlike in 2010 -- I'm not going to come run in two years for Congress again. The Democrats will need to find another candidate."

2014

See also: New York's 24th Congressional District elections, 2014

In 2014, Maffei lost his bid for re-election to the U.S. House to represent New York's 24th District. Maffei ran unopposed for the Democratic and Working Families Party nominations in the primary on June 24, 2014. He was then defeated by John Katko (R) in the general election. The general election took place on November 4, 2014.

U.S. House, New York District 24 General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Dan Maffei Incumbent	40.3%	80,304
	Republican	John Katko	59.5%	118,474
	N/A	Write-in votes	0.2%	444
Total Votes				199,222
Source: New York State Board of Elections, NYS Board of Elections Rep. in Congress Election Returns November 4, 2014," accessed August 30, 2021

Race background

Maffei was a member of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's Frontline Program. The program was designed to help protect vulnerable Democratic incumbents during the 2014 election cycle.

Biden and Clinton campaigning for Maffei

Vice President Joe Biden (D) appeared at a campaign event for Maffei in Syracuse on October 20, 2014. Approximately 450 people were present at the event.

Later that same month, former President Bill Clinton (D) announced that he would join Maffei at a "get-out-the-vote" event on October 14. Clinton attended similar rallies for Maffei in 2010 and 2012, attracting crowds of 800-1,000 people.

Media

• In September 2014, Maffei released an ad attacking his Republican challenger, John Katko, for opposing equal pay for women.

Maffei 2014 campaign ad attacking John Katko

2012

See also: New York's 24th Congressional District elections, 2012

Maffei ran for U.S. House in 2012. He was unopposed in the Democratic and Working Families Party primaries and faced incumbent Ann Marie Buerkle (R) and Ursula Rozum (G) in the general election on November 6, 2012. Maffei won the election.

U.S. House, New York District 24 General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Dan Maffei	48.8%	143,044
	Republican	Ann Marie Buerkle Incumbent	43.4%	127,054
	Green	Ursula Rozum	7.7%	22,670
	N/A	Write-in votes	0.1%	220
Total Votes				292,988
Source: New York State Board of Elections, "NYS Board of Elections Rep. in Congress Election Returns Nov. 6, 2012," accessed September 1, 2021

Full history

To view the full congressional electoral history for Dan Maffei, click [show] to expand the section.

2010 On November 2, 2010, Ann Marie Buerkle won election to the United States House. She defeated Daniel Maffei (D) in the general election. U.S. House, New York District 25 General Election, 2010 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Republican Ann Marie Buerkle 50.1% 104,602      Democratic Daniel B. Maffei incumbent 49.8% 103,954      N/A Write-in votes 0.1% 178 Total Votes 208,734 2008 On November 4, 2008, Dan Maffei won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Dale Sweetland (R) and Howie Hawkins (Green Populist) in the general election. U.S. House, New York District 25 General Election, 2008 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Democratic Dan Maffei incumbent 54.8% 157,375      Republican Dale Sweetland 41.9% 120,217      Green Populist Howie Hawkins 3.3% 9,483      N/A Write-in votes 0% 24 Total Votes 287,099

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Dan Maffei campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2012	U.S. House (New York, District 24)	Won	$2,032,959	N/A**
Grand total			$2,032,959	N/A**
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Personal Gain Index

See also: Personal Gain Index (U.S. Congress)

The Personal Gain Index (U.S. Congress) is a two-part measurement that illustrates the extent to which members of the U.S. Congress have prospered during their tenure as public servants.
It consists of two different metrics:

• Changes in Net Worth
• The Donation Concentration Metric

PGI: Change in net worth

See also: Changes in Net Worth of U.S. Senators and Representatives (Personal Gain Index) and Net worth of United States Senators and Representatives

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org, Maffei's net worth as of 2012 was estimated between $-81,995 and $65,998. That averages to $-7,998.50, which is lower than the average net worth of Democratic representatives in 2012 of $5,700,168.36. Maffei ranked as the 418th most wealthy representative in 2012. Between 2007 and 2012, Maffei's calculated net worth decreased by an average of 29 percent per year. Between 2004 and 2012, the average annual percentage increase for a member of Congress was 15.4 percent.

Dan Maffei Yearly Net Worth
Year	Average Net Worth
2007	$18,276
2012	$−7,998
Growth from 2007 to 2012:	−144%
Average annual growth:	−29%
Comparatively, the American citizen experienced a median yearly decline in net worth of -0.94%.

The data used to calculate changes in net worth may include changes resulting from assets gained through marriage, inheritance, changes in family estates and/or trusts, changes in family business ownership, and many other variables unrelated to a member's behavior in Congress.

PGI: Donation Concentration Metric

See also: The Donation Concentration Metric (U.S. Congress Personal Gain Index)

Filings required by the Federal Election Commission report on the industries that give to each candidate. Using campaign filings and information calculated by OpenSecrets.org, Ballotpedia calculated the percentage of donations by industry received by each incumbent over the course of his or her career (or 1989 and later, if elected prior to 1988). Maffei received the most donations from individuals and PACs employed by the Lawyers/Law Firms industry.

From 2005-2014, 26.8 percent of Maffei's career contributions came from the top five industries as listed below.

Dan Maffei Campaign Contributions
Total Raised	$10,452,269
Total Spent	$8,999,804
Top five industries that contributed to campaign committee
Lawyers/Law Firms	$846,560
Leadership PACs	$614,520
Securities & Investment	$502,004
Lobbyists	$483,551
Health Professionals	$354,191
% total in top industry	8.1%
% total in top two industries	13.98%
% total in top five industries	26.8%

Analysis

Ideology and leadership

See also: GovTrack's Political Spectrum & Legislative Leadership ranking

Based on an analysis of bill sponsorship by GovTrack, Maffei was a rank-and-file Democrat as of August 2014. This was the same rating Maffei received in June 2013.

Like-minded colleagues

The website OpenCongress tracks the voting records of each member to determine with whom he or she votes most and least often. The results include a member from each party.

Maffei most often voted with:

• Sean Maloney
• Chris Gibson

Maffei least often voted with:

• Jim Matheson
• Jim Bridenstine

Lifetime voting record

See also: Lifetime voting records of United States Senators and Representatives

According to the website GovTrack, Maffei missed 42 of 2,775 roll call votes from January 2009 to August 2014. This amounts to 1.5 percent, which is better than the median of 2.5 percent among current congressional representatives as of August 2014.

National Journal vote ratings

See also: National Journal vote ratings

Each year National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of Congress voted in the previous year. Click the link above for the full ratings of all members of Congress.

2013

Maffei ranked 186th in the liberal rankings in 2013.

Voting with party

The website OpenCongress tracks how often members of Congress vote with the majority of the chamber caucus.

2014

Maffei voted with the Democratic Party 78.1 percent of the time, which ranked 191st among the 204 House Democratic members as of August 2014.

2013

Maffei voted with the Democratic Party 78.7 percent of the time, which ranked 195th among the 201 House Democratic members as of June 2013.

Personal

Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Maffei is married to Abby Davidson-Maffei. They live in DeWitt, New York.

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term Dan + Maffei + New York + House

All stories may not be relevant to this page due to the nature of the search engine.

Dan Maffei News Feed

See also

• New York
• United States congressional delegations from New York
• United States House of Representatives
• New York's 24th Congressional District elections, 2014
• New York's 24th Congressional District

External links

 

• Social media:
  • Twitter
• Biographies:
  • U.S. Congress
  • Wikipedia
• Political profiles:
  • GovTrack
  • CongressMerge
  • Project Vote Smart
  • Roll Call
• Financial (federal level):
  • FEC contributions
  • OpenSecrets.org
  • LegiStorm.com
• Interest group ratings:
  • Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions:
  • On The Issues
  • Project Vote Smart
• Public statements:
  • Project Vote Smart
• Voting record:
  • Project Vote Smart
  • Washington Post
• Media appearances:
  • C-SPAN
  • IMDb
• Media coverage:
  • Washington Post

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Richard L. Hanna	U.S. House of Representatives - New York District 24 2013-2015	Succeeded by John Katko
Preceded by James T. Walsh	U.S. House of Representatives - New York District 25 2009–2011	Succeeded by Ann Marie Buerkle

[show]

New York's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Kirsten Gillibrand (D)

Chuck Schumer (D)

Representatives

District 1

Nicholas LaLota (R)

District 2

Andrew Garbarino (R)

District 3

Tom Suozzi (D)

District 4

Anthony D'Esposito (R)

District 5

Gregory Meeks (D)

District 6

Grace Meng (D)

District 7

Nydia Velazquez (D)

District 8

Hakeem Jeffries (D)

District 9

Yvette Clarke (D)

District 10

Daniel Goldman (D)

District 11

Nicole Malliotakis (R)

District 12

Jerrold Nadler (D)

District 13

Adriano Espaillat (D)

District 14

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D)

District 15

Ritchie Torres (D)

District 16

Jamaal Bowman (D)

District 17

Michael Lawler (R)

District 18

Pat Ryan (D)

District 19

Marcus Molinaro (R)

District 20

Paul Tonko (D)

District 21

Elise Stefanik (R)

District 22

Brandon Williams (R)

District 23

Nick Langworthy (R)

District 24

Claudia Tenney (R)

District 25

Joseph Morelle (D)

District 26

Tim Kennedy (D)

Democratic Party (18)

Republican Party (10)