As early voting in New York State continues and Election Day nears, WAMC's Lower Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Elias Guerra spoke with Democratic U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan about his campaign against Republican challenger Jackie Auringer to represent New York's 18th District.
Ryan has represented the district that includes large parts of the mid-Hudson Valley since 2023. Guerra began the conversation with the former Army intelligence officer and tech entrepreneur by discussing Ryan's priorities if reelected and how his approach to his second term might differ from his first.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
Editor's note: This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
Ryan: I would be honored to have two more years to really fight for this community in the Hudson Valley. I think there's two pieces to what we need to do. One is we need to frankly stop the harm that our community has been hit in almost every direction from. We need to repeal these tariffs that are driving up prices for small businesses and for every one of us. We need to stop this war, which I've been fighting loudly on from day one, that is driving up gas prices, home heating oil prices, fertilizer prices, and of course, the horrific loss of American soldiers and innocent lives of Iranians as well.
We need to aggressively go after the systemic corruption in our system, passing a congressional stock trade ban, a presidential stock trade ban, and going further. I hear from a lot of folks that they feel like both parties right now are too close to the Musks and trillionaires of the world, the big mega companies and are not really trusted to fight for us, for the middle class, and for the working class.
And so, I think we have to continue to fight that fight. I have to continue to fight that fight. And I think we have fought that really hard here on several issues, but we have more work to do.
Guerra: Understood. And I do want to ask you about one of the biggest points of tension between yours and Auringer’s campaign, your opponent, which is, where you have both been residing. Your campaign has accused Auringer of living in Florida for the past few years. But Auringer has accused you of living with your family in [Washington] D.C. and not in your district. And she said that you only moved to your district to run for Congress. What is your response to that?
Ryan: Unfortunately, and I've been through a lot of tough campaigns, I've never seen this level of not focusing on the issues that voters care about and personal attacks rather than policy in substance. So, the number of inaccurate and provably false things that my opponent has slung is too long for us to probably cover in a short interview.
I'll be super clear. I mean, I was born and raised in the Hudson Valley, graduated Kingston High School, went to college here at West Point. Of course, I deployed and was sent wherever the Army sent me in my military time. And then I've been serving this community as county executive and now in Congress for the last decade. So, I just think voters see through this and see it for what it is.
Guerra: And I also want to ask you about another pressing issue, which is ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] in the Hudson Valley. There is new documentation suggesting that ICE is trying to build a detention facility in Orange County. That comes as the county jail has had to end its contract with ICE to comply with a new state law. What is your perspective on the agency ICE broadly and also their presence in the Hudson Valley?
Ryan: ICE is a rogue violent agency at this point. And they, in fact, have a budget larger than the United States Marine Corps, which is absolutely insane. So, at every opportunity I have voted against any additional funding to this agency until there can be some trust restored. And that's gonna be very, very hard to do.
Here in the Hudson Valley, that's meant earlier this year battling against a deeply un-American proposal to build a mass detention center in Chester, further west in Orange County, which I'm really proud that we rallied everyone and we believe at this point have stopped, at least -- You know, I don't take anything for granted, but we believe we've stopped that proposal. And then we saw them, as you said, move to try to build something in the Town of Newburgh; we immediately mobilized the community again, put pressure on elected officials at the local level to oppose it. And we've seen unanimous bipartisan opposition to the proposal in Newburgh as well.
Part of the challenge is we are just not getting clear, honest answers from [the] Department of Homeland Security and ICE as to what their goals are, both short-term and long-term. But I believe, and the president ran on this, he wants to have this unprecedented rounding up of Americans, which harkens to our truly darkest days. And so, until they can prove otherwise, I think we have to believe that's what they're working to do here. And we just will not allow that in the Hudson Valley period. And to see our community come together and stop this twice now makes me really proud.
Guerra: Understood. And what is one thing voters should hold you accountable for, especially as somebody who has served a term in Congress? Do you think there have been any mistakes that you've made as a congressman?
Ryan: Well, I think everything I do on a daily basis should be — You know, there should be accountability for every member on every issue, every vote. And I, certainly in a good way, in a small D democratic way, have felt that for my constituents. I mean, I represent 800,000 people in a very politically diverse district. So inherently, folks are always gonna disagree, some number of folks. And the goal is to just try to do the best for the most number of people, both on individual issues and at a macro level.
But I've really tried to be the kind of representative that goes everywhere, shows up everywhere, regardless of how individuals or community voted. We come to the community, do our CARES van, do town halls, you know, telephone town halls where we have over 20,000 households call in to really make sure I'm getting that feedback.
And there have been several points throughout my time in Congress, in my few years, where after listening to the community, I changed a position. And that's exactly how democracy should work.
Guerra: What's a time where, you know, the public changed their mind?
Ryan: There are lots of times. I think probably the biggest and most recent example was a recent vote this summer to not send $3.3 billion of aid to Israel to further perpetuate violence and war on the other side of the world when we should be investing here. And so that's something that a lot of constituents were speaking out about and had lots of conversations about and that input from the community absolutely was central to the vote that I made to oppose that aid.
Guerra: So last question, you know, what would you say you disagree most with your opponent, Jackie Auringer?
Ryan: I think Trump and his administration have done tremendous harm to the Hudson Valley in big ways and small. And what we need right now are representatives in Congress who will stand up and fight for us, not be a rubber stamp for harmful tariffs, this war, skyrocketing costs on health care, and housing and groceries, which is the opposite of what, of course, was promised.
So, I've seen two years of pathetic, spineless rubber stamps in the House of Representatives with the Republicans in charge, and we just can't afford that anymore. And I will continue to fight to be an independent voice for our constituents. And I've seen nothing yet from my opponent to indicate she would be anything other than another spineless rubber stamp for the harms of this administration.
