"We had one race that we were engaged in, it was in northern New York,
it was a race where a Republican has held the seat since the Civil
War"

Um...no?

It was last held by three different Democrats from January 3, 1979
through January 3, 1993.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York's_23rd_congressional_district

How does she keep getting elected?

Oh wait - San Francisco - that explains everything.