Altschuler ’93 concedes to incumbent Democrat in nation’s last undecided congressional election

Altschuler called Bishop on Wednesday to congratulate him on his victory in New York’s 1st Congressional District, which covers a portion of eastern Long Island. Altschuler was one of 12 University alumni to run for office in this year’s midterm elections.

Altschuler, who, according to unofficial tallies, trailed Bishop by 263 votes in a race that saw 194,000 votes cast, dropped legal challenges to the remaining 977 uncounted absentee ballots.

“I don’t want to needlessly prolong the race,” Altschuler said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian on Thursday. “When it became clear that I can’t win, I decided to drop out of the race.”

On election night, Bishop was reported to lead Altschuler by more than 3,000 votes. After a tabulation error was discovered, however, Altschuler assumed a lead of 356 votes. Bishop regained the lead as more and more absentee ballots were counted, eventually giving the two-term representative his most recent 263-vote lead.

Although disappointed that he was not able to pull out the victory, Altschuler said he has few regrets about the race.

“It was exhilarating to get 97,000 people to vote for you. I had a very positive experience,” Altschuler said, adding, “I learned a lot along the way.”

Altschuler invested heavily in his first foray into electoral politics, spending $3.6 million of his own money on the race. The entrepreneur made his wealth by co-founding CloudBlue, an electronic waste management company, in 2008 and OfficeTiger, a company that provides support services to businesses, in 1999. He co-founded OfficeTiger with Joseph Sigelman ‘93.

Bishop said in a conference call on Wednesday that he was thankful to win the race, characterizing the year’s electoral landscape as “a Category 5 storm against incumbents,” according to The New York Times.

In all, Republicans won 63 seats in 2010, the largest swing since 1938.

Altschuler told the ‘Prince’ that he sees himself continuing to advocate for important community issues, though running for elected office in the future is “not my focus.”

“I ran because of the issues,” he explained. “I will continue to stay focused on the issues and helping my community. My focus is continuing to bring jobs to Long Island and New York State.”