Update Nov. 6, 2:30 a.m.: This article has been updated to include quotes from Josh Riley.
Josh Riley (D-N.Y.) upset incumbent Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.), winning the House seat after a close race.
“In this election we came together to reject the politics of fear and division and lies, the old tired political playbook of dividing people up and pinning them against each other, the politics of tearing people down,” said Riley in a victory speech early Wednesday morning at Personal Best Brewing, an Ithaca pub. “We rejected that, and we sent a message — that’s not how we do things here. We are better than that.”
Multiple student groups campaigned for increased turnout during the elections in hopes of flipping the seat. Riley told The Sun he was grateful for the increased engagement and support from college students, including Cornellians.
“The results tonight — in a really close election with the stakes as high as they are — should go to show how important it is to get out, vote and make your voice heard,” Riley told The Sun Wednesday morning. “One of the highlights of my campaign was engaging on our college campuses and talking to students, and everyone who put their heart and soul into this campaign should be proud.”
An Endicott, New York, native and Harvard Law School graduate, Riley ran a campaign focused on abortion rights while attacking Molinaro’s record on the issue.
“[Molinaro] ran around and told everybody that he would support a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions. And then he got into Congress and voted not once, not twice, not three times, but 13 times, to restrict access to abortion services,” Riley said in a September interview with The Sun.
The two candidates were separated by more than 4,000 votes in the 2022 midterm elections. Despite refusing contributions from corporate political action committees, Riley outraised Molinaro by about $3.5 million as of Oct. 16, according to the latest data on OpenSecrets.
Riley, who ran on a promise to secure the border through bipartisan efforts, has blasted Molinaro as a “career politician” and criticized his opponent’s anti-immigration platform.