NEW YORK—The highly competitive U.S. House races in upstate New York and on Long Island resulted in the election of politicians who will bring to the 119th Congress a somewhat different political agenda.
Despite a strong showing nationally for the Republican Party and President-elect Donald Trump, Democrat challengers managed to flip several districts, unseating Republican incumbents, including those whom they had unsuccessfully challenged two years prior.
With ballots still being counted in some races, the overall political balance in the House of Representatives in 2025 and beyond remains to be seen.
NY-4
In New York’s District 4, which includes parts of Queens and Nassau County at the western edge of Long Island, Democrat Laura Gillen defeated incumbent Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.). As in the upstate District 19 race, the same candidates had competed in 2022, and the Democrat who narrowly lost in 2022 this time emerged victorious.At the end of the night, Gillen had taken 51 percent of all votes cast in the district, compared with D’Esposito’s 49 percent.
Gillen’s political agenda has evolved over time. She started out in local politics on Long Island, winning an election as Hempstead town supervisor in 2017. In an interview in July, Gillen described her political career as originating largely from frustration that she felt over what she called corruption in the Republican political networks of District 4 and her desire to strike a blow for transparency.
Setting her sights on national politics, Gillen has taken a less aggressive stance on immigration reform and border security than some candidates. While acknowledging the need for stepped-up funding and better technology for the U.S. Border Patrol, Gillen has also spoken out against what she views as racially driven demonization of immigrants.
In a section of her campaign website outlining her general stances on issues, Gillen went so far as to include a separate plank for “Haitian Americans” among such broad issues as “Gun Safety,” “Labor,” “Public Safety,” and “Protecting Our Environment.”
“I will defend the Haitian community in the face of racist, conspiratorial attacks from extremists,” Gillen stated.
With regard to gun safety, Gillen has taken a firm stance, vowing to expand background checks and the role of mental health professionals in averting mass shootings and other tragedies.
NY-19
In New York’s upstate District 19, the outcome of the race provides an entry to Congress for Democrat Josh Riley, who ran unsuccessfully against Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) for the same seat in 2022.The outcome of the race was close, with Riley securing 50.7 percent of all votes cast, compared with Molinaro’s 49.3 percent.
Riley ran on a platform that included a pledge to expand background checks for guns and keep “weapons of war” off the streets. Riley also took a firm stand in favor of marriage equality and against what he labeled “dangerous conversion therapies.” He advanced a broad eco-agenda.
He expressed his openness to partial accommodation of Republican initiatives on some issues, while vowing to fight to block enactment of other parts of Trump’s agenda.
Riley said he agrees with the president-elect’s opposition to taxes on tips and plan to end taxes on Social Security benefits, but he said that he will work hard to counter any effort to slash taxes for billionaires and oil companies.
He also said he would fight to restore the state and local tax deduction, describing the cause as bipartisan even though others in Riley’s party, such as Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), have explicitly blamed Trump for ending the deduction.
NY-22
In New York’s upstate District 22, which includes the university town of Syracuse, the Democrat challenger, state Sen. John Mannion, defeated incumbent Rep. Brandon Williams (R-N.Y.) by a margin far exceeding those of other races.Despite a controversy that flared over the summer, when former members of the state senator’s staff accused Mannion of abusive and inappropriate conduct, he handily won the District 22 race, netting 184,016 votes, or 54.1 percent of the total, compared with 155,842, or 45.9 percent, for Williams.
On the question of bipartisanship, Mannion gave a somewhat ambiguous answer, saying he favored working across the aisle to get things done while repeatedly alluding to threats to the stability of American democracy.
Citing “workers’ rights” and “women’s reproductive rights” as legislative priorities in the upcoming Congress, Mannion said he found the prospect of a Trump White House without a Democrat Senate or House “very concerning.”