Dem Rep. Josh Riley cruises to 2nd term in upstate NY swing seat after GOP abandons challenger

Democratic Rep.Josh Riley cruised to a second term Tuesday, beating Republican state Sen.

Peter Oberacker for the competitive upstate New York district.The 45-year-old congressman won the swing district spanning the Hudson Valley to Ithaca after ousting former Republican congressman Marc Molinaro in a tight 2024 race by just about 8,400 votes.Riley held a 46-point lead when the Associated Press called the race.The Congressional Leadership fund, a Super PAC for House Republicans, cancelled nearly $5 million in TV ads supporting Oberacker after a controversial 2015 Veterans Day post resurfaced.

In the post, the 63-year-old state senator honored his grandfather who fought for Nazi Germany and died at the Battle of the Bulge.Follow for live updates on the 2026 Midterm Elections“I debated on whether to post this picture, my Grandfather [sic] Ludwig Oberacker who gave his life for his country, I salute all who served,” he captioned in the since-deleted post.Riley far outraised Oberacker, raking in around $6 million to Oberacker’s roughly $1.4 million, federal campaign finance records through mid-october show.After shelling out over $4.2 million on the race, Riley still had about $1.8 million in the bank — more than Oberacker raised throughout the election.Both candidates focused on affordability while pitching their case to the 540,000 registered voters in the district.Riley ran on opposing the war in Iran and lowering utility bills, although labor unions and construction groups pushed back against claims his bills banning foreign ownership and restricting executive pay would actually alleviate rising costs.Oberacker said throughout the campaign trail that affordability was his top concern and that slashing regulations and lowering taxes would have been his focuses in Washington. ...