Greg Fischer

Former U.S. Senate. candidate Steve NovickWASHINGTON – Former U.S. Senate candidate Steve Novick was the recipient of kind words today from an unlikely source: U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Rewind to the Democratic primary when Novick was facing off against state House Speaker Jeff Merkley (D-Portland). The DSCC threw its support behind Merkley, airing a television advertisement in the final days of the campaign that attacked Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Pendleton) and defended Merkley. Merkley would go on to narrowly win the hard-fought primary.

“I have to give a lot of credit to Steve Novick, who ran very strong, stronger than we thought. And to Novick’s credit, the day after the primary he went out there complimenting Merkley and has been helping Merkley ever since, which I just wanted to thank him for that,” Schumer said at a press conference at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee this afternoon.