The governor's decision to move elections previously scheduled for April 28 changes the complexion of New York's 27th Congressional District race.

This weekend, due to the coronavirus outbreak, the governor announced he was moving both the Democratic presidential primary and special elections throughout the state from April 28 to June 23 - the same day as the rest of New York's primaries.

"I think it's a double whammy for the Democrats on the NY-27 special," Martucci said.

Democratic candidate Nate McMurray was hopeful a strong turnout in the presidential race could propel him to victory in the state's reddest congressional district. However, Martucci said pushing the election to June likely means more Republican turnout and less Democratic enthusiasm for a presidential primary that could already be decided.

"If he was going to have a chance, it would have been in a potentially high Democrat turnout election that would level the playing field to a certain extent to give him a chance. That advantage is gone now for him," he said.

Martucci said that's the good news for Republican candidate Chris Jacobs, who likely becomes the clear favorite in the special. But Jacobs will simultaneously have to fend off candidates from his own party in the primary.

"I think there's going to be an element of confusion there that it's tough to predict how that's going to play out," Martucci said.

The move means Jacobs loses the potential advantage of incumbency in June. However, Martucci believes it will allow him to further emphasize the endorsement he previously received from President Donald Trump.

"Now if the primary and the special are on the same day, it's hard to imagine a scenario where anybody could interpret that the president could be endorsing Chris Jacobs for the special but you're on your own for the special, right?" he said.

The simultaneous elections does leave the possibility the Republican, Jacobs, could become the district's representative while at the same time being knocked off the party's line in November by either Erie County Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw or attorney Beth Parlato, unless they decide to bow out of the race.

"Only they can answer that question," Martucci said. "I would imagine that there's going to be an enormous amount of pressure for one or both of them to get out." 

He said the wildcard is the political ramifications of the coronavirus crisis, which won't be clear until closer to the election.