Congress member: NY Congressional District 19

Republican Marc Molinaro, incumbent representative of New York’s 19th district, is expected to face a close race Nov. 5 from challenger Josh Riley, a Democrat and a member of the Working Families Party, a minor progressive political party that focuses on advancing economic, climate and social justice. The congressional race is listed as a toss-up by Cook Political Report, meaning either candidate has a good chance of winning. In 2022, the two candidates faced off and Molinaro won by 4,495 votes, receiving 146,004 votes to Riley’s 141,509.

Jan. 3, 2023, Tompkins County moved from the 23rd congressional district of New York to the 19th. There are 31,040 people in Tompkins County registered as Democrats and 10,136 who are registered as Republicans. With most Tompkins County members being Democrats, the county could sway the election. 

Riley is running on a platform that focuses on defending abortion rights, lowering taxes for the middle class and enhancing public education.

In an interview with The Ithacan, Riley said that when he visits campuses the issue he hears about the most is reproductive freedom, which he wants to prioritize. He said that when he gets to Congress, he will sponsor the Women’s Health Protection Act, an act that creates federal protections for abortion. 

“I hear a lot from college students about the affordability crisis,” Riley said. “It’s really hard to get out of college, carry that student debt and try to start a life. … The affordability crisis in a lot of ways can be traced back to the corruption in our politics. So I don’t take any corporate [Political Action Committee] money.”

PACs are committees that raise and spend money to support political candidates that represent their business, ideological or labor interests. PACs can legally donate $5,000 to a single political candidate annually. Super PACs make no direct donations to political opponents but can spend unlimited money supporting candidates through advertisements or sending messages that directly support a candidate. Molinaro is backed by Elon Musk’s super PAC America PAC, which has just spent $300,000 to support Molinaro’s campaign. As of Sept. 30, Musk is the richest person in the world. 

Riley’s campaign website said that if he is elected to Congress, he will work to lower costs by supporting policies that crack down on price gouging to prevent corporations from profiting from artificially-increased prices, cap the cost of critical drugs and break up big monopolies.

Another big issue for Riley is climate change. Riley’s campaign website said he believes existential threats to the environment need bold reactions. If elected, he will support policies that ensure clean drinking water for everyone through updates to the Safe Drinking Water Act, establish energy dependence by ending reliance on fossil fuels and create jobs for building American-made products needed to fight climate change.

Riley’s campaign website also said he believes health care should be a civil right in the U.S. and he supports policies that lower the cost of prescription drugs, improve health care access in rural communities and strengthen Medicare to cover hearing, dental and vision services. Riley is also in favor of policies that “prohibit corporate PACs that are controlled by insurance and drug companies from buying influence with politicians.”

Molinaro’s policy platform includes reducing inflation and the cost of living, encouraging cryptocurrency and solving the United State’s energy crisis. Molinaro has said he does not support a federal abortion ban and he will uphold the right to abortions in New York. Molinaro did not respond to an interview request with The Ithacan. 

Molinaro’s campaign website said his main focuses when it comes to health care are addressing the nation’s mental health crisis and ending the opioid epidemic. During his time as county executive for Dutchess County, Molinaro helped open a 24/7 crisis stabilization center that offers a single point of service for walk-in patients to access medical care like mental health assessments and supervised outpatient withdrawal services.

Molinaro’s plan for the future includes creating an opioid response program that will allocate funds to local governments responsible for offering medical services and supporting the bipartisan Mental Health Professionals Workforce Shortage Loan Repayment Act. The act works to address the mental health care provider shortage by expanding roles for other types of providers like nurses, nurse practitioners and physicians assistants.

According to Molinaro’s campaign website, his efforts to help the environment focus on a reliable and independent energy future. If re–elected, he will commit to this belief by supporting innovation in the country’s energy sector through grants from the Department of Energy’s National Labs and supporting a wide variety of energy sources like wind, solar, nuclear, hydro and geothermal energy. 

Molinaro’s campaign website also said his main focus for the economy is to reduce inflation and the cost of living. His plan for the future includes lowering inflation by adjusting parts of the federal individual tax code and reducing the tax burden by limiting discretionary spending, which is money that is approved by congress during the appropriations process.

Over 80% of Riley’s campaign contributions come from individual contributions, with only 5.73% of his donations coming from non-corporate PACs. Riley has raised $5,230,941 from his campaign. 36% of Marc Molinaro’s campaign donations come from PACs while 41.95% comes from individual donations. 

Riley said it is important for college students to vote because the 19th congressional district is one of the most competitive districts in the country and college students in Tompkins County have a special opportunity to shape the direction of the nation. 

“New York state might not be the swing state in the presidential race, it won’t decide the control of the Senate, but what we do here in this district, in this election, very well could determine who controls the House of Representatives and the agenda that follows from that,” Riley said. “Especially for students who are at Ithaca College or Cornell [University], this is a very special opportunity to engage in politics in a battleground.”