The mosque continues to have an impact in races far from NYC, causing a Republican congressional candidate locked in a close race upstate to reverse his support for the controversial project after his Democratic target came out against it.

The Utica Observer-Dispatch reports NY-24 hopeful Richard Hanna called the site two blocks from Ground Zero “the wrong location” adding: ” Building a mosque near Ground Zero is insensitive, an affront to the victims of 9/11, and it lacks respect for the general public’s feelings.”

Last week, Hanna expressed support for the mosque during an interview with WAMC, becoming one of the few Republicans to do so.

At the time, Democratic Rep. Mike Arcuri, whom Hanna is making a second attempt at trying to oust after failing to do so in 2008, could not be located by a spokesperson contacted by the O-D in search of a comment on the mosque.

Yesterday, Arcuri, a former Oneida County DA, released the following statement (he wasn’t available for follow-up discussions):

“As district attorney, I spent my career protecting victims’ rights, and to me, this is no different. The pain felt by many Americans from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is still very real, and I can understand how the thought of building a mosque near Ground Zero.”

It only took Hanna a few hours to backtrack from his previous comments, saying that while the mosque developers have a “constitutional right” to build, “with rights come responsibilities.”

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