Anthony Weiner Democratic Bob Turner Republican Pre-consolidation: Post-consolidation: Pre-consolidation: Post-consolidation: A 2011 special election in New York's 9th congressional district was held on September 13, 2011, to fill a seat in the U.S. Congress for New York's 9th congressional district, after Representative Anthony Weiner resigned from the seat on June 21, 2011, due to his sexting scandal.

[10] Weprin was believed to have been nominated to serve as a placeholder who would not seek re-election should the district have been eliminated in the 2012 redistricting [11] (which subsequently happened).

Bob Turner, former CEO of Multimedia Entertainment best known for producing The Jerry Springer Show,[12] was chosen as the Republican nominee on July 8, 2011, after Councilman Eric Ulrich declined to run and Juan D. Reyes backed out of contention.

[14] The Conservative Party of New York State endorsed Republican nominee Bob Turner in a July 9 meeting.

The Socialist Workers Party organized a one-week petitioning effort to collect the 3,500 signatures necessary to get its candidate, Christopher Hoeppner, onto the special election ballot.

[23] Obama's support, or lack thereof, of Israel in particular emerged as top issue in the district, with its thirty some percent Jewish voters.

Approval polls are one thing, but for the GOP to win in a heavily Democratic district like this would send a strong message about how unhappy voters are".

[30] Weprin had the assistance of labor unions and strong local party organizations, and received additional financial support from national Democrats, who spent more than $600,000 on television advertisements criticizing Turner.

[33] Weprin, an Orthodox Jew whom Tablet Magazine described as "a nebbish-ey mustachioed man with a limp handshake and what appears to be a toupee"[34] led a gaffe-prone campaign:[35] When asked by the New York Daily News, he estimated the national debt at $4 trillion instead of $14 trillion it was at that time,[36] and later blamed Hurricane Irene as the reason for bowing out of a scheduled debate against Turner, a day after the hurricane had passed.

[42] Weprin's vote in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage in the Assembly in June 2011, angered many religious Jews,[43] who make up for about a third of the Jewish voters,[41] and led to some Flatbush Orthodox rabbis issuing a letter prohibiting Jews from voting for Weprin or donating time or money to his campaign.

[28] The Republican upset victory is seen as a result of frustration with the weak national economy and considered a referendum on President Obama's economic policies.

Former New York mayor Ed Koch called the Republican win "a message to President Obama that he cannot throw Israel under a bus with impunity".

[55] The chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose congressional district in South Florida comprises many Jewish voters, denied national ramifications saying that the district's large concentration of Orthodox Jews, who tend not to vote Democratic, made it unusual.