Pat Ryan defeats Marc Molinaro in special election in NY-19

HUDSON — Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan claimed victory in the special election in New York’s 19th Congressional District on Tuesday night, though his opponent, Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, refused to concede the race, saying it was too close to call.

With all 622 election districts reporting, Ryan led Molinaro by about 3,000 votes, though some absentees remain to be counted. 

Ryan addressed supporters in Kingston, saying, “We got in this race because the foundations of our democracy were and remain under direct threat … when the Supreme Court ripped away reproductive rights, access to abortion rights, we said: This is not what America stands for.”

Molinaro addressed supporters at an Elks Lodge in Hudson about an hour before the race was called.

A number of absentee ballot are still outstanding — more than 4 percent of registered voters in Ulster County requested a mail-in ballots, according to Ulster County Republican Election Commissioner John P. Quigley — but a change in state law allowed local boards of election to begin counting absentee votes an hour before the close of polls, so the only ballots left uncounted are those working their way through the postal system.

The figures had the candidates winning their home counties. Ryan crushed Molinaro in Ulster County, winning 62 percent of the vote to Molinaro’s 38 percent. In Dutchess County, Molinaro only bested his competitor by a slight margin, with 52 percent of the vote to Ryan’s 48 percent.

As the only congressional contest before November’s midterms, the special election was being looked at as a political bellwether, a test for larger issues on the national stage. The campaigns and their backers took full advantage of this, making their arguments in broad strokes as they associated their opponent with the political crises of the moment.

Ryan connected Molinaro with the Republican-supported Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, stating repeatedly that “choice was on the ballot,” a phrase also employed on lawn signs backing the Democrat. His campaign ran a pro-choice TV spot, and Ryan has called the election “a referendum on Roe.”

In an interview with the Times Union, Molinaro said he is “personally pro-choice,” but pointed out that abortion rights are codified in New York, though he added that he thought late-term abortion should be “discussed” in the state. Molinaro said he would not support a federal abortion ban in a debate hosted by the Daily Freeman.

For their part, Molinaro and his backers attacked Ryan as being soft on crime, sending mailers denouncing him for participating in a Black Lives Matter protest in Poughkeepsie in June 2020, failing to mention that Molinaro marched in the same protest, where he kneeled in solidarity with protestors. Molinaro’s supporters also criticized Ryan in campaign literature for the release of 10 defendants awaiting trial in Ulster County because they were not prosecuted in a timely manner.

Molinaro, who entered local politics at the age of 18 before serving in the state Assembly and becoming Dutchess County Executive in 2012, touted his broad experience in elected office and pointed to his history of keeping taxes low in the county, which saw property taxes drop the last six years.

Ryan played up his time in the U.S. Army, where he served as a military intelligence officer, as proof of his commitment to his country, and said he would focus on “leveling the playing field” if elected by increasing taxes on large corporations while instituting middle-class tax cuts.

The winner of the special election will only serve for about four months, during which time the midterms will be held to determine who will serve in Congress for the next two years. Due to redistricting, voters will be looking at a new congressional map that divides the current 19th District into new 18th, 19th and 20th Districts.

In the new 19th District, Josh Riley handily beat businesswoman Jamie Cheney, winning 62 percent of the vote to her 35 percent in the Democratic primary. Riley, an attorney, was nearly universally endorsed by Democratic committees across the district and wooed voters with his repertoire of progressive cases, including representing Apple when it was sued by conservative firebrand Laura Loomer and challenging Trump’s “Muslim Ban.”

Ryan was also on the ballot in the Democratic primary for the new 18th District, which encompasses all of Orange County and most of Ulster and Dutchess counties — including Molinaro’s residence. In that contest, he held off primary challenges from Aisha Mills, a Center for American Progress alum and CNN contributor who recently moved to Newburgh, and financial regulator Moses Mugulusi. He will face two-time Assemblyman Colin Schmitt, a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, in November’s midterm election.