New York is not a swing state, but it does play a central role in the battle for control of the House of Representatives. Several of the swing districts are north of the city, in or near the Hudson Valley.
Key issues in these districts include the Harris-Biden crisis of illegal immigrants, rising crime and taxes.
Supporting these Republicans is a logical choice on all fronts:
- The current Republican House has already passed an excellent border control bill (HR2), which the Democratic Senate refused to consider. A Democratic House power approve something, but it would be tailor-made to appease the party’s progressives, who actually don’t want the border controlled at all.
- Crime is more of a state and local problem than a national one, but Democrats keep trying to pretend it’s not a problem at all. outdated FBI statistics claim it is declining nationwide. And there’s no question that New York Democrats are on the wrong side: They gave us the no-bail and Raise the Age laws and other “reforms” that have sent crime through the roof since 2019 — and they are the party of #DefundThePolice (and #AbolishICE for that matter).
- Democratic majorities always want to raise taxes, and it will never just be ‘the rich’ who are affected. Meanwhile, Republicans in New York also got Donald Trump to agree to relax the SALT (state and local tax) deduction, which he massively reined in with the 2017 tax law that sparked a massive economic boom — while the Democrats didn’t even do anything about SALT. when they controlled Congress in 2021-‘2.
Dem candidates also emphasize that their Republican opponents will be the deciding vote to ban abortion nationwide; that’s an outright lie on every level.
Such a bill (indeed, each national abortion measure, whether pro-life or pro-choice) has no chance of passing any chamber of Congress in the near future; this GOP house didn’t try; all these candidates say they would oppose it – and Trump has said he would too veto It.
Every time Democrats raise this issue, it is to avoid the issues that actually matter.
National Democrats and left-wing dirty money outfits have poured tens of millions into these races and funded endless Republican television broadcasts. Race by race, here are the details:
NY-17 (Rockland and Putnam counties, plus parts of Westchester County and Dutchess)
Rep. Michael Lawler narrowly defeated then-incumbent Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney in 2022; Since then, he has been one of the most bipartisan members of the House of Representatives, passing multiple bills, including several that President Biden signed into law.
The Democrat is a progressive ex-Rep. Mondaire Jones, who left the district in 2022 to avoid a primary against Maloney, opted for an unsuccessful run in a Brooklyn district.
During his one term, Jones was a solid ally of The Squad and other far-left cops – a fan of defunding the police, unleashing criminals, abolishing ICE, opening the border and handcuffing the Border Patrol; he also voted against funding Israel’s Iron Dome four times.
He is now telling voters that he will be a moderate on all these issues; no one should believe him.
Lawler, by the way, was an early and loud voice in driving fraudster Republican Rep. George Santos (R-Long Island) out of the House. He is a steadfast supporter of Israel and a staunch opponent of the “sanctuary city” nonsense and of Harris and Biden’s disastrous border policies.
He also has the backs of the police; every police union supports him.
And Lawler even got a bill to partially put SALT back on the ballot in the House of Representatives — but House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was opposed by every New York Democrat.
Figures.
He is also a strong voice in state politics and rightly denounced Gov. Kathy Hochul’s pause on the congestion charge as “nothing more than an election ploy.”
NY-18 (Orange County, most of Dutchess and Ulster, plus the cities of Newburgh, Beacon, Kingston and Poughkeepsie)
Republican Alison Esposito retired from the NYPD to become Lee Zeldin’s running mate in their 2022 bid to unseat Governor Kathy Hochul; she has stayed in politics to challenge Rep. Pat Ryan.
The former NYPD deputy inspector is campaigning on a platform of law and order and border security; it also supports the restoration of SALT and support for Israel.
And she is a whirlwind of energy, a charming straight-shooter who will work tirelessly for the district.
Ryan, on the other hand, has voted against aid to Israel several times, even as the Jewish state faces war on seven fronts. Last December, he voted “present” on a resolution to condemn anti-Zionism as anti-Semitism, and also chose not to condemn the genocidal “from the river to the sea” call for the elimination of Israel.
He began calling for a ceasefire in February, long before Israel had completed its necessary campaign to eliminate Hamas in response to the October 7, 2023, atrocities, and remained largely silent as pro-Hamas agitators acted on campuses in the district. .
And as director of the province of Ulster in 2019, he banned local law enforcement from working with ICE; in the House of Representatives, he voted against resuming work on the border wall, against strengthening the Border Patrol, against reinstating Remain in Mexico and against tightening rules on using asylum applications to enter the country illegally come.
He’s a Democrat: his vote in the House of Representatives supports the party line on the border, crime, and so on. He even voted with all the other New York Democrats in return for lifting the SALT cap.
NY-19 (spans the Catskills, Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley and Southern Tier)
This is a rematch, as Rep. Marc Molinaro defeated Democrat Josh Riley in 2022 by a narrow margin of 2%.
But that was actually Riley’s second choice for where to run: He had first moved further north – after decades of living and working in DC and California – before deciding this district was the best place to plant his carpetbagger.
Molinaro, on the other hand, has deep roots in the district, serving as a Dutchess County councilman and executive. In his two years in the House of Representatives, he became the second most bipartisan member and the fifth most productive when it comes to passing legislation — no easy feat for a freshman.
Riley runs ads about his “Republican values” and frontier toughness, but in his long career (out of state) as Democratic active, supported 32 (thirty-two!) lawsuits to open the border, relax immigration enforcement, etc.
He fought for the Biden policy of “freedom of prosecution” that allowed thousands (or more) of criminals, gang members, and terrorists into our nation.
As a staff member for the left-wing then senator. Al Franken wrote a bill to grant citizenship and benefits (including Social Security) to millions of illegal immigrants.
And he has long ties to the far-left, anti-Israel Working Families Party – which is also a strong supporter of open immigration, sanctuary policies and huge benefits for illegal migrants.
Not only did he receive the WFP’s endorsement in 2022, but also this year he was a keynote speaker at the WFP’s annual fundraising event in 2017. On a WFP questionnaire, he endorsed voting rights for illegal immigrants.
And he remains silent about anti-Semitism at his alma mater, Harvard — while raking in major campaign cash from other Harvard alumni who also funded the pro-Hamas protests.
Molinaro has seen hate and anti-Semitism sweeping campuses and social media since Oct. 7, and is a strong supporter of Israel in Congress.
He also played a role in pushing Trump to reconsider SALT and freeing the House from George Santos.
