In New York's Hudson Valley, Democratic Congressman Pat Ryan has won election in the 18th Congressional District against Republican Assemblyman Colin Schmitt, who conceded the race.
Democrat Josh Riley said he would not concede the 19th district race to Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro. In a statement Tuesday night, Riley said his campaign would wait for every vote to be counted. As of Wednesday morning, Riley was still trailing by several thousand votes with about 95 percent of votes counted.
Republican Mike Lawler defeated Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney in New York City’s northern suburbs, and the GOP swept all four House seats on Long Island, as the party closed in on its largest share of the state’s congressional delegation in two decades.
With two races too early to call Wednesday, Republicans' strong showing in the suburbs has helped them win at least 10 of the 26 seats New York will have in Congress next year, two more than their current representation in what is now a 27-seat delegation.
Lawler defeated the five-term New York Democrat, who had led his party’s attempt to retain control of Congress. The state Assemblyman ran a spirited campaign focused on inflation and public safety issues against the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Maloney’s loss in a congressional district in the Hudson River Valley, north of New York City, is both a symbolic victory for Republicans and a territorial setback for Democrats in the national fight for control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
“I don’t like to lose, but my opponent won this race, and he won it fair and square,” Maloney said at a news conference in Washington. “And that means something. So I’m going to step aside. And I had a good run.”
On Long Island, Republican Anthony D’Esposito won in a congressional district that hasn’t sent a GOP candidate to Washington in 26 years. D’Esposito, a retired New York Police Department detective and member of the Hempstead town council, defeated Democrat Laura Gillen in a district covering southern parts of Nassau County, just outside New York City.
He succeeds U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice, a Democrat who did not run for reelection.
Republican Marc Molinaro won the race to represent a sprawling new congressional district that runs from the Massachusetts border, over the Catskill Mountains and all the way to Ithaca, the small city in the Finger Lakes region that is home to Cornell University.
Molinaro, the Dutchess County executive who was the Republican candidate for governor of New York in 2018, defeated Democrat Josh Riley, an attorney hailing from the district’s western end.
Molinaro lost a race to represent a different configuration of the 19th Congressional District in a special election in August but kept campaigning on a moderate agenda of vowing to address rising inflation, energy costs and crime. He also chastised Riley for his career as an attorney in Washington.
Under its old boundaries, the 19th District had been represented by a Democrat since 2019, but it was substantially reshaped in the redistricting process.
In Syracuse and its suburbs, Republican Brandon Williams held a narrow lead over Democrat Francis Conole in the race to succeed U.S. Rep. John Katko, a Republican who is retiring.
Democrats held on to many of New York's top offices in Tuesday's election, winning the governor's race, the race for U.S. Senate and state attorney general.
Voter dissatisfaction imperiled the party, though, in the suburbs.
Democrats also appeared to be hurt badly by the collapse of their attempt to gerrymander the boundaries of New York's congressional districts in a way that could have given the party a huge advantage.
Courts threw out maps passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, citing procedural errors and excessive partisanship. A court appointee then drew new maps that prioritized competition.
The result has been more close matchups than the state has seen since the late 1990s, when Republicans represented 13 of what was then New York's 31 congressional districts.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.