Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro was planning for a “long night” late Tuesday as he and Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan faced off in a close race to replace now-Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, a Democrat, in Congress. But the Associated Press and several other outlets called the race for Ryan just before midnight.
The special election pitted Molinaro, a Republican, against Ryan, a Democrat who lost to Delgado in the 2018 primary. The winner will serve the rest of the Congressional term, through the end of the year, but both candidates won primaries Tuesday for November’s general election in separate districts for the Congressional term that starts in January.
Molinaro was unopposed in the Republican primary for New York’s redrawn 19th House District, which will feature a large portion of the Southern Tier. Josh Riley beat Jamie Cheney in the Democratic primary for that post on Tuesday.
Ryan will face Republican state Assemblyman Colin Schmitt in November's race for the reconfigured 18th district. Schmitt ran unopposed in the GOP primary Tuesday.
The special election was seen as a potential national bellwether as Democrats look to buck historical trends and keep control of Congress in the midterms. Republicans are banking on flipping seats like the 19th in their bid to wrest the House from Democrats.