61 Days to Go: Josh Riley

Who: Josh Riley

Where: NY-19 (11 counties in upstate New York, mostly the “belt” between the Pennsylvania and Massachusetts borders)

Why: For Democrats to pick up four seats in the House and thus promote Rep. Hakeem Jeffries to Speaker, candidates in New York and California will need to reverse some close losses in the 2022 midterms that were blamed on low voter turnout. Josh Riley is exhibit A. He describes his rematch against incumbent Marcus Molinaro as having been rated the fourth most competitive among House races this fall, and in February, Politico said that control of this district could decide the fate of the House.

Riley’s 2022 loss came in a district that Biden easily won in 2020. Riley is a fifth-generation native of upstate New York, but has spent some time in D.C. as general counsel to U.S. Senator Al Franken on the Senate Judiciary Committee and in other government positions as well as practicing law. The two issues that are front and center for him are reproductive rights—his opponent has voted 13 times in Congress to restrict abortion access—and a broken and corrupt campaign finance system that is stacked in favor of corporate interests. The need to purchase advertising in five different media markets makes this race an expensive one.

In May, his opponent called the jury’s guilty verdicts of Trump on 34 felony counts "a perversion of our justice system.” Molinaro also gave an impassioned speech to fellow Republicans in a closed-door meeting in support of Mike Johnson for Speaker.

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Day 62: Janelle Bynum | OR-05 | Read | Donate