Dear John,

As we kick off 2024, I wanted to take this opportunity to give you an update on all we accomplished in the last quarter of 2023.

I was especially proud to help local candidates across our district win important races in November. We flipped the Binghamton City Council from red-to-blue for the first time in decades. We flipped the Sullivan County Legislature from red-to-blue (in a county that Trump carried by double digits). And we flipped the Columbia County DA’s office from red-to-blue in a marquee race for our region. You can see some photos from the campaign trail below. As I was out knocking doors with candidates, voters told me time and again that they are fed up with the dysfunction in our politics. They want new voices and new leadership because the old way of doing things just isn’t cutting it. I’ll carry that message with me into 2024.

Meanwhile, in Washington, my opponent, Marc Molinaro, has taken center stage in Congress’ dysfunction. As the government was on the brink of shutting down, he took a leading role in crafting a disastrous proposal that would have slashed funding for public safety and border security.

Then, when the House was without a Speaker for weeks following Kevin McCarthy’s ouster, Molinaro voted twice for Jim Jordan and led the charge to elect Mike Johnson. These are guys who want to criminalize abortion, criminalize same-sex marriage, destroy Social Security, and overturn elections. They should not be in Congress, much less in the Speaker’s chair. But that’s where Molinaro wanted them.

Worse still, Molinaro said his constituents are too stupid to know or care what’s going on in Congress. You can watch him say it (four times!) below. Upstate New Yorkers have been overlooked and looked down on by condescending politicians for too long. Molinaro is just more of the same.

We deserve better. We know that the decisions made in Congress have a direct impact on the conversations we’re having at home. Molinaro takes cash from the utility monopolies then helps them raise rates (while slashing heating assistance for seniors). Molinaro takes cash from the oil industry then votes to kill clean energy manufacturing jobs. Molinaro even voted to give massive tax cuts to billionaires while at the same time reducing access to Social Security. I don’t take corporate PAC money because I’ll always fight for Upstate New York, and I’ll never sell it out.

With gratitude & high hopes,

Josh

PERSONAL UPDATES

ON THE TRAIL

• We criss-crossed NY-19 supporting local candidates in November’s elections, including:

• I had a great time at Mercy House’s annual gala in Endicott.

• I toured the Center for Discovery, which provides amazing educational opportunities for children across New York while employing hundreds of folks in Sullivan County.


• While Mike Johnson was hosting a $100,000-per-plate lunch for Marc Molinaro, we did a series of grassroots fundraisers in living rooms and community centers across NY-19.

• We joined the Christmas Bazaar at the Ukrainian Sacred Heart Church in Johnson City.

• And I got coffee with voters in Norwich.

CAMPAIGN HQ

I was honored to be endorsed by leaders of New York’s congressional delegation. Reps. Pat Ryan, Paul Tonko, Joe Morelle, Grace Meng, and Greg Meeks endorsed our campaign.

Our campaign outraised Molinaro’s for the second consecutive quarter. In October, FEC reports for the third quarter showed that we raised over $570,000 compared to $500,000 for Molinaro. Since I launched my campaign in April, we have outraised Molinaro by over $250,000. While Molinaro is taking boatloads of corporate PAC money, the vast majority of contributions to our campaign are $25 or less.

We released two digital ads holding Molinaro accountable for his votes for Speaker and his insults of constituents. After Molinaro voted for anti-choice, anti-equality, anti-Social Security, pro-insurrection candidates for Speaker–and then said his constituents were too dumb to know or care–we released two digital ads.

IN THE NEWS

The Washington Post featured our race as one of two that will determine control of the House. As the Washington Post reported, “Riley believes he can win the rematch, now that Molinaro has a voting record in Congress, by showing voters that Molinaro ‘tries to play the part of a moderate’ but ‘votes with all the extremists.’” You can read the full story here.

I spoke with City & State about our race and Molinaro’s support for extremists to be Speaker. As I told City & State: “One of the big differences from the last campaign to this campaign is that Molinaro now has a voting record in Congress that we can look at, to the extent that he's ever actually voting in Congress. They've been in recess for (much) of the time since the summer, but when they are voting, he's voting against upstate New Yorkers, and he's voting in favor of his party bosses and corporate donors. One of the first votes he took was to reward oil companies that are engaged in price gouging against consumers in upstate New York who are still paying too much for gas. He voted for a cut to consumer protection agencies that are supposed to look out for upstate New Yorkers. An 8% cut for border security, all of those votes are against the interests of upstate New Yorkers and the only people they help are Marc Molinaro and his donors and party bosses.” You can read my full interview here.

I spoke with NBC News about our rematch against Molinaro. As I told them, “The first question I usually get is, ‘What’s going to be different in 2024?’ and the short answer is we’re going to win at this time.” You can read the full story here.