Molinaro Leads Riley In Race For 19th Congressional District

MID-HUDSON VALLEY, NY — With a few election districts left to report, Republican Marc Molinaro is claiming victory over Democrat Josh Riley for the 19th Congressional District. As of midnight Tuesday, Molinaro is leading Riley 140,580 votes to 135,365 votes, with 637 of 642 election districts reporting.

According to the state Board of Elections unofficial numbers, Molinaro has 50 percent of the vote to Riley's 48 percent.

Riley issued a statement shortly after midnight saying it was no surprise there was no declared winner.

"Our understanding from conversations with Board of Election officials is that we're down, but we're not out," he said. "We understand that there are an unknown number of absentee ballots to be counted and affidavit ballots to be processed. We want to be sure every voice is heard, and we are going to do that."

Molinaro ran unsuccessfully in 2018 against Andrew Cuomo for governor. He is the Dutchess County executive, a position he's held since 2012. The Red Hook resident has also served in the state Assembly and began his political career as village trustee and then mayor of Tivoli.

During his campaign, he emphasized reducing inflation and the cost of living, solving the country’s energy crisis, ending the opioid epidemic and addressing America’s mental health crisis.

An Ithaca resident, Riley is an attorney and has served as staff assistant to Rep. Maurice Hinchey and has been a U.S. Department of Labor policy analyst and general counsel to Sen. Al Franken on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

He focused during the campaign on defending and strengthening the country’s democracy, revitalizing the economy, reproductive rights for women and keeping communities safe from crime and gun violence.

The new 19th Congressional District is made up of all or part of Broome, Chenango, Columbia, Cortland, Delaware, Greene, Ostego, Sullivan, Tioga, Tompkins and Ulster counties.