HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) – Republican convention delegates chose former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer as their U.S. Senate nominee Wednesday, pinning their hopes on the outspoken conservative as the candidate to challenge Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the fall.

Spencer won 63 percent of the weighted delegate vote, much more than the 51 percent needed to win the party’s official designation.

“We have the issues on our side. We are Republicans,” Spencer said after winning the nomination. “They (Democrats) do not have the issues on their side.”

But former Reagan-era Pentagon official Kathleen Troia “KT” McFarland was able to secure enough of the vote to guarantee her a spot on the Sept. 12 primary ballot, ensuring a bitter fight throughout the summer.

The battle between Spencer and McFarland is emblematic of the ideological split facing New York Republicans as their standard-bearer, Gov. George Pataki, prepares to step down after three terms.

Spencer, a Vietnam veteran and the adopted son of Irish immigrants, is a staunch opponent of legal abortion and gun control. McFarland, a wealthy Manhattan resident married to an investment banker, supports legal abortion but has primarily emphasized her foreign policy credentials throughout her brief campaign.

Polls have shown both candidates badly trailing Clinton.