Chairmen from Republican Party county committees in the 2oth Congressional district selected Christopher Gibson on Wednesday to be the party’s official nominee to challenge US Representative Scott Murphy this November.

According to the Alany Business Review:

Gibson, 45, is a retired U.S. Army colonel with a Purple Heart and other military honors. He deployed seven times during a 24-year Army career, including four tours in Iraq.
Gibson grew up in Kinderhook, which is in Columbia County, and he still lives there today. He attended Ichabod Crane High School, and then earned a bachelor’s in history from Siena College, in Loudonville.
Gibson also holds a doctorate in government from Cornell University. He published a book in 2008 called “Securing the State.”
Gibson is married, with three children.
Murphy, 40, won the congressional seat in a spring 2009 special election, a back-and-forth contest decided by absentee ballots. Republican challenger James Tedisco conceded the race in April; at the time, Murphy had a 400-vote lead over Tedisco.

Following the Republican chairmens’ announcement, the Democratic Congressional Committee issued the following statement:

After Weeks of Pandering to Republican Party Bosses, Chris Gibson Launches Candidacy in the Wrong District

After weeks of behind the scenes pandering to Republican Party bosses across the district, this afternoon Republican Chris Gibson (NY-20) finally officially launched his campaign. He did so from the wrong district.

Being out of touch and in the wrong district is nothing new for Republican candidates in New York’s 20th Congressional district, however. In fact, the party bosses who Gibson spent weeks cozying up to are the same Republicans responsible for the mess that was career Albany politician Jim Tedisco’s candidacy just a year ago. Tedisco not only proved to be grossly out of touch with Upstaters over the course of his campaign but didn’t even reside in the district he was seeking to represent.

“It’s almost as if Chris Gibson and his Republican Party bosses are going out of their way to prove that they’re out of touch and clueless when it comes to Upstate New York,” said Shripal Shah, Regional Press Secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “The Tedisco-esque nature of Gibson’s candidacy may work for pandering purposes, but it also symbolizes exactly what voters rejected last year.”

“If an out of touch agenda is all Chris Gibson has to offer Upstate New York, he should expect to get the same treatment as the last guy who ran on the same platform.”