3 Incoming Democrats Flipped New York House Seats
NEW YORK—New York's highly competitive U.S. House races, upstate and on Long Island, resulted in the election of politicians who will bring to the 119th Congress a somewhat different political agenda.
Despite a strong showing nationally for the Republican Party and President-elect Donald Trump, Democrat challengers managed to flip several districts, unseating Republican incumbents, including those they had unsuccessfully challenged two years prior.
With ballots still being counted in some races, the overall political balance in the House of Representatives in 2025 and beyond remains to be seen.
At the end of the night, Gillen had taken 51 percent of all votes cast in the district, compared to D'Esposito's 49 percent.
Gillen's political agenda has evolved over time. She started out in local politics on Long Island, winning an election as Hempstead town supervisor in 2017. In an interview in July, Gillen described her political career as originating largely from frustration she felt over what she called corruption in the Republican political networks of District 4 and her desire to strike a blow for transparency.
Setting her sights on national politics, Gillen has taken a less aggressive stance on immigration reform and border security than some candidates. While acknowledging the need for stepped-up funding and better technology for the U.S. Border Patrol, Gillen has also spoken out against what she views as racially driven demonization of immigrants.
In a section of her campaign website outlining her general stances on issues, Gillen went so far as to include a separate plank for "Haitian Americans" among such broad issues as "Gun Safety," "Labor," "Public Safety," and "Protecting Our Environment."
"I will defend the Haitian community in the face of racist, conspiratorial attacks from extremists," Gillen stated.
With regard to gun safety, Gillen has taken a firm stance, vowing to expand background checks and the role of mental health professionals in averting mass shootings and other tragedies.
The outcome of the race was close, with Riley securing 50.7 percent of all votes cast, compared with Molinaro's 49.3 percent.
Riley ran on a platform that included a pledge to expand background checks for guns, and keep "weapons of war" off the streets. Riley also took a firm stand in favor of marriage equality and against what he labeled "dangerous conversion therapies." He advanced a broad eco-agenda.
He expressed his openness to partial accommodation of Republican initiatives on some issues, while vowing to fight to block enactment of other parts of Trump's agenda.
Riley said he agrees with the president-elect's opposition to taxes on tips and plan to end taxes on Social Security benefits, but said that he will work hard to counter any effort to slash taxes for billionaires and oil companies.
He also said he would fight to restore the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, describing the cause as bipartisan even though others in Riley's party, such as Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), have explicitly blamed Trump for ending the deduction.
Despite a controversy that flared over the summer, when former members of the state senator's staff accused Mannion of abusive and inappropriate conduct, he handily won the District 22 race, netting 184,016 votes, or 54.1 percent of the total, compared to 155,842, or 45.9 percent, for Williams.
On the question of bipartisanship, Mannion gave a somewhat ambiguous answer, saying he favored working across the aisle to get things done while repeatedly alluding to threats to the stability of American democracy.
Citing "workers' rights" and "women's reproductive rights" as legislative priorities in the upcoming Congress, Mannion said he found the prospect of a Trump White House, without a Democrat Senate or House, "very concerning."
