Samara Barend

Who is Samara Barend?

Samara "Sam" Barend was the 2004 Democratic Party nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives for the 29th Congressional district of New York State. She lost with 41 percent of the vote against Conservative Mark Assini and the winner, Republican Randy Kuhl, in the race to succeed retiring Republican Congressman Amo Houghton.

At 26 years old, Barend would have been the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Barend, who had never run for public office before, raised $627,952 in her contest against Randy Kuhl, a Republican state senator who served in the NY State Assembly and Senate for more than 25 years. The heavily Republican nature of the 29th district, covering the Southern Tier in rural upstate New York, worked against her.

Barend was a featured candidate in several major Internet sources including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's blog, The Stakeholder and on the website of ActBlue, the non-profit "527" political committee that supports Democratic candidates.