NY-19 Congressional District race 2022: Who is on the ballot and what are the top issues?

Residents will have the opportunity to name a new 19th Congressional District representative when they head to the polls on Election Day, Nov. 8 or through early voting, which began on Oct. 29.

Josh Riley, a Democrat who was raised in Endicott and now lives in Ithaca, is running against Marc Molinaro, a Republican and Dutchess County Executive who is currently serving his third term.

The USA TODAY Network New York asked both candidates about issues facing the 19th District, which stretches from part of Ulster County westward to Tioga County. It also includes Broome, Tompkins, Cortland, Chenango, Delaware, Sullivan, Greene and Columbia counties, as well as a portion of Otsego.

Here's an introduction to the candidates and what they had to say about approaching those issues, including the economy, public safety, reproductive rights and environmental issues.

Who is Josh Riley?

Riley began his career in public service working as a staff assistant in Congressman Maurice Hinchey's office and continued with stints in the offices of U.S. Senators Ted Kennedy and Al Franken. He worked as a policy analyst at the U.S. Department of Labor before spending time as a law clerk for Judge Kim Wardlaw on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California and has since worked as an attorney in private legal practice.

Who is Marc Molinaro?

Molinaro became the youngest mayor in America in 1995 and was elected to the New York State 103rd District Assembly position 11 years later. He has served as Dutchess County Executive for nearly a decade. Molinaro lost to Democrat Andrew Cuomo in the 2018 gubernatorial race and to Democrat Pat Ryan in the 19th District Congressional race to fill Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado's position earlier this year. He resides in Dutchess County, which is outside of the 19th District.

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Addressing the economy in New York's 19th District

The pandemic has brought with it a number of hurdles, especially ones with a heavy impact on the economy.

Riley said inflation, which he believes is a consequence of bad trade deals closing down plants and shipping jobs overseas, and providing relief to working families, not to Wall Street and corporate interests, should be the focus.

"What we really should be doing is make things in America again, make things in upstate New York again," Riley said. "My family worked in IBM plants for a really long time and then those plants closed down and we lost those jobs. It would be a dream for me to see us create a lot of really good jobs in the area again."

Driving down the cost for people who struggle too hard is job number one, Molinaro said, and he intends to hold Washington accountable.

"We have to do everything in our power to reduce the cost on middle-class families, farmers and small business," Molinaro said. "That starts by reining in federal spending, it extends to exerting America's energy resources so that we can begin to bring down home heating and gas prices and it also means confronting the high burden of property taxes."

Public safety

Conversations around public safety have picked up within the past couple of years, including ones involving crime and police reform.

Molinaro believes supporting local law enforcement agencies with funding to get them the resources they need to do their job, as well as consistent funding to support drug trafficking enforcement, will help address public safety issues.

"I can tell you that the bail reform, discovery reform and additional policies in Albany are making us less safe," Molinaro said. "We cannot adequately provide for public safety because of it."

Riley, whose mother served as a probation officer in Tioga County for nearly 20 years, said he has and will always stand with law enforcement.

"Nothing means more to me than [my family's] safety and security," Riley said.

Reproductive rights

With the overturn of Roe v. Wade earlier this year, which previously guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion, reproductive rights have been at the center of many conversations.

The sensitive conversation about women's healthcare, Riley believes, should happen between a woman and her doctor.

"Women's health care decisions are women's health care decisions, nobody else's," Riley said.

Molinaro said he wants to ensure women have access to the medical treatment they need, such as prenatal and neonatal care, as they navigate the choice they feel is necessary and appropriate for them.

"I do not support a national [abortion] ban and do not believe Congress can impose its will on states like New York," Molinaro said.

Environment

New York is working toward achieving a goal of 70% of the state's electric generation from renewable sources by 2030 and 100% by 2040.

Policies in Washington and Albany, Molinaro said, forced a transition to more environmentally-friendly renewables without the infrastructure to do so.

"What that has done has led to high energy costs that are going to get worse," Molinaro said. "The federal government needs to make sure that we set our priorities appropriately."

Climate change is an existential threat, Riley says, and he wants to see an extension of this area's history of manufacturing items that meet some of the world's biggest challenges into the creation of solar panels, semiconductors and lithium-ion renewable energy batteries.

"This district is beautiful, stretching from the Finger Lakes to the Catskills and the Hudson Valley," Riley said. "Our most valuable resources here are our people and our environment and we need to fight for them."

For more information on this year's election candidates and to check your voter information, visit broomevotes.com.

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This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: NY-19 Congressional District election: Josh Riley vs. Marc Molinaro