NEW YORK, Nov 1, 2009 (AFP) - Republicans were in upheaval Sunday after their party's candidate in an early congressional election in New York abandoned the race and said she was backing the Democrat.

Dede Scozzafava withdrew from the race on Saturday when polls predicted her coming a distant third in the November 3 vote, behind both the Democrat and a rightwing candidate from the tiny Conservative Party.

On Sunday, she made a surprise statement throwing her support behind the Democrat, Bill Owens, and not her Conservative rival Doug Hoffman.

The race for the 23rd Congressional District in upstate New York has little bearing on the power balance in Washington, where President Barack Obama's Democrats control Congress.

But a decision by some senior rightwing Republicans - including former vice presidential contender Sarah Palin - to back Hoffman over the more moderate Scozzafava had laid bare ideological turmoil inside the party.

Scozzafava deepened that feud by announcing that she was "supporting Bill Owens for Congress and urge you to do the same."

She described her former Democratic opponent as the best successor to the Republican congressman whose departure to a post in the Obama administration triggered the early election.

"It's not in the cards for me to be your representative, but I strongly believe Bill is the only candidate who can build upon John McHugh's lasting legacy in the US Congress," she said in the message published by the local newspaper, the Watertown Daily Times.

Owens issued a statement saying he was "honored" and that "more than ever we need bipartisan solutions to help bring jobs to upstate New York to get our economy back on track."

But a spokesman for Hoffman, Rob Ryan, said Scozzafava had "betrayed" the Republican Party by snubbing her Conservative rival.

In addition to the New York congressional contest, there are elections for governor in New Jersey and Virginia on Tuesday. Analysts describe the day as a preview of major congressional elections next year.

Latest polls showed Owens and Hoffman neck-and-neck, with Scozzafava far behind.