GOP Seeks to Refocus New York Hudson Valley Voters on Inflation, Crime, Border in House Race

Almost 2,500 candidates ran in 600-plus midterm congressional primaries nationwide between March and September, with about 950 advancing to November’s general elections for 435 House seats.

However, none of them had a better primary day than Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan of New York, who won two elections on Aug. 23, becoming the newest member of Congress in one district while being nominated to run in the general election in another.

Ryan, the former Ulster County executive, is hoping that momentum carries into his race against Republican state Assemblyman Colin Schmitt (R-New Windsor) in the 18th Congressional District, one of three Hudson Valley districts now occupied by Democrats that the GOP hopes to flip in the party’s midterm quest to retake a majority in the House.

Ryan topped two rivals to win the 18th District’s Democratic primary to face Schmitt, who ran unopposed in his party’s primary. The district currently is represented by Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), who is running in the neighboring 17th District, rather than seeking reelection in the district that he’s served for five two-year terms.

Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), who won an August special election in New York’s 19th Congressional District, speaks with voters in Clinton, N.Y., on Sept. 17, 2022, while campaigning for election in November in another congressional district. (Courtesy Pat Ryan for Congress)

But while Democrats in the 18th District on Aug. 23 were nominating Ryan to run for the congressional seat being vacated by Maloney, voters in the 19th District picked him to serve the final four months of Rep. Antonio Delgado’s (D-N.Y.) term. Delgado resigned in May to become lieutenant governor. 

Ryan won that on Sept. 13 with a special election upset over Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, the GOP’s 2018 gubernatorial candidate, in a closely watched battle that buoyed Democrats’