RESULTS: Democrat Pat Ryan wins special election in Upstate New York battleground district

Democrat Pat Ryan defeated Republican Marc Molinaro is a closely-watched special election for an Upstate New York battleground district on Tuesday, a major win for Democrats heading into November.

The races & the stakes

New York held a slew of hotly-contested congressional primaries on Tuesday and two special elections. Tuesday's races messy games of political musical chairs and internal Democratic Party fights partly spurred on by the redrawing of the state's political lines.

But Democrats secured a major victory in Ryan's win over Molinaro in the special election for New York's 19th District, a battleground district in Upstate New York that President Joe Biden won by just 1.5 points in 2020, to serve out the rest of now-Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado's term.

A protracted court battle over New York's new maps for Congress and state legislature led to two separate primary days. The primary for state-level offices and state Assembly occurred in June, and primaries for congressional and state Senate seats are being held on August 22.

On Long Island, several Republicans are vying to succeed GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin, who is running for governor. Crowded slates of Democrats are running for open seats in the 3rd District, vacated by Rep. Tom Suozzi, who unsuccessfully ran for governor, and the safely-Democratic 4th District, vacated by retiring Rep. Kathleen Rice.

In Upper Manhattan, longtime incumbent Jerry Nadler defeated fellow top House Democrat Carolyn Maloney in New York's 12th Congressional District, which unifies the Upper West and Upper East sides of Manhattan into one seat.

Downtown, over a dozen Democratic candidates are vying for the open and deep-blue 10th District, which encompasses lower Manhattan and parts of downtown Brooklyn.

They include Rep. Mondaire Jones, who currently represents a district in the Hudson Valley, former Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman, state Assemblywomen Yuh-Line Niou and Jo Anne Simon, Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, and former federal prosecutor Dan Goldman, who served as counsel to House Democrats during the first impeachment of President Donald Trump.

In the Hudson Valley, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney beat back a progressive primary challenge from state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi in New York's 17th District. Maloney, who leads House Democrats' campaign arm, angered many progressives by deciding to run in the 17th District. The move pitted him against another House incumbent, Jones, who ultimately decided to move and run in New York City.

Maloney running in the 17th District opened up the new 18th District, another battleground seat.

Ryan also ran in and won the regular Democratic primary for a full term in the 18th District to face GOP Assemblyman Colin Schmitt. Ryan winning both contests means he could jump immediately from representing the old 19th District until January to serving a full term in Congress representing the 18th.

The 19th District's special election was one of two special elections taking place in New York on Tuesday.

Republican Joe Sempolinkski defeated Max Della Pia in a special election to serve out the rest of former Rep. Tom Reed's term in the safely-Republican 23rd District based in Western New York.

In the regularly-scheduled GOP primary for a full term in the newly-redrawn 23rd District is also taking place on Tuesday, Nick Langworthy, chairman of the New York Republican Party, defeated Carl Paladino, a controversial and bombastic fixture in New York politics. 

State Senate primaries

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