Democrat Josh Riley projected to win NY-19
Democratic challenger Josh Riley is projected to win the race in New York’s 19th Congressional District, beating Republican Marc Molinaro.
“The deck has been stacked against everyday people and it’s been stacked in favor of big powerful, special interests who pay politicians to do what’s best for their bottom line. Not yours. But because of what we did today in this election, in this district, we have an opportunity to change that,” Riley said in the 1 a.m. hour.
Molinaro spoke to his supporters at the Holiday Inn just before 12:45 a.m., saying he would wait until the thousands of affidavit and absentee ballots are counted.
“Well, while I would have liked to end it tonight with more votes than we did, there are still thousands of affidavit and absentee ballots to be counted and they ought to be counted. And so we are going to wait and be sure that every voter in the 19th Congressional District has their voice heard,” he said.
It has become the most expensive House race in the United States, with nearly $39 million spent to win the seat, which includes parts of Rensselaer County and all of Greene and Columbia counties. It then extends west to include Ithaca and Binghamton.
It was a rematch of the 2022 race, in which Molinaro beat Riley by 1.6%.
Among the key issues that Molinaro focused on were immigration and the southern border and crime. Riley attacked Molinaro on the issue of abortion rights.
Molinaro is with his supporters at the Holiday Inn in Binghamton. NewsChannel 13’s Tessa Bentulan is there and will bring you updates on air and online. Riley is watching the returns coming in at P