In a major upset, Democrat Josh Riley unseated Republican Congressman Marc Molinaro in New York’s 19th Congressional District, which spans from Tompkins County to the Hudson Valley.
The results marked the close of a competitive, expensive and contentious race, one of several districts New York Democrats hoped to flip in their favor.
Riley declared victory in the early hours Wednesday at a watch party in Ithaca, shortly after the Associated Press called the race.
“We have a lot of work to do, to lower costs for working families and to protect Medicare and Social Security,” Riley said. “We've got to get Roe v. Wade back into law. We got to bring a bunch of manufacturing jobs back home. So now the real work begins.”
Riley told the crowd of supporters that his campaign proves that voters in upstate New York are not divided.
“If all you knew about our politics was what you saw on cable news or read on social media or heard in the political establishments' echo chambers, then you might think that we were hopelessly divided,” Riley said. “And this campaign has proven that we're not.”
But voters in the district were divided; the race was extremely close.
Unofficial results show Riley leading Molinaro by one percentage point, or around 4,000 votes. That is closer than when the two candidates faced off in 2022, when Molinaro won by two points.
Molinaro has not yet conceded. In a statement Wednesday, he said there are still 12,000 affidavit and absentee ballots to count.
“These ballots will decide the race and we have to be sure every legal vote is counted,” Molinaro said. “Whatever the result ends up being, I will accept it, and am beyond grateful to my family, friends, and supporters.”
Riley won in four of the district’s 11 counties: Broome, Tompkins, Columbia and Ulster. Broome and Tompkins counties have the largest populations across the district.
As of Wednesday, he was ahead in Broome County, where he was born and raised, by just 924 votes. It was the most competitive county in the district. Donald Trump narrowly carried it on election night by 551 votes.
Compared to a poor showing in 2022, election night this year turned out well for Democrats in New York. They held onto all of their congressional seats, and flipped three competitive districts: the 19th, 4th and 22nd.
In the 22nd District, which covers Central New York and includes parts of Cortland County, Democrat John Mannion defeated the Republican incumbent, Congressman Brandon Williams.
On Thursday, the Associated Press called the race for New York's 4th District, on Long Island, for Democrat Laura Gillen. Gillen unseated Republican Congressman Anthony D'Esposito by just over 6,000 votes.
Like the 19th, the 4th district race was a rematch of 2022, when D'Esposito narrowly beat Gillen.
New York's congressional delegation is now made up of 19 Democrats and seven Republicans. As recently as last year, 11 of the state's representatives in Congress were Republican.
