Josh Riley of Tompkins County emphasizes his experience on Capitol Hill as Jamie Cheney of Millerton promotes her experience as a farmer in the Democratic primary for the 19th Congressional District, which includes Cortland and Tompkins counties.
Both candidates emphasized their support for abortion rights and focused on economic issues.
The primary election will take place Tuesday. Early voting continues until Sunday. The winner will face Republican Marc Molinaro in the general election.
Riley is a lawyer living in Ithaca who grew up in Endicott. He was general counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Cheney is a farmer and business owner who lives in Millerton in the Hudson Valley
Cheney said Thursday she will vote for the Women’s Health Protection Act to codify the right to abortion. She said she would support banning assault weapons while expanding background checks and red-flag laws.
“Choice is on the ballot,” Cheney said. “It’s on the ballot right now.”
Cheney called climate change an existential threat to the planet and supports federal research into determining what creating a green economy would look like in 2050, developing green technology and investing in renewable energy while supporting union jobs.
She said she thinks her campaign can reach Republican and unaffiliated voters. She said a television ad on abortion rights drew praise from Republican voters.
“Since we launched that ad in the middle of July, we have received thousands of messages from across party lines,” said Cheney, who said Republican voters are needed to win in the 19th District. “It’s a community that is looking for a representative that knows what the community needs, and is not so much party driven.”
Cheney said her experience as a farmer means she will be a strong voice for agriculture.
Riley’s campaign manager, Coby Eiss, emphasized protecting democracy as a cornerstone of Riley’s campaign. He hopes to expand voting rights and clarify election procedures in response to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, as well as creating union jobs in the district.
Riley said he would support ending bad trade deals and updating the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, which he said would increase investments in communities that lost manufacturing jobs. He also said he will support the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which expands on rights for employees to organize in unions, a position Cheney also supports.
Eiss said Riley’s experience as general counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is important.
“He spent his career fighting on behalf of working people in federal court and in Congress as general counsel,” Eiss said, adding Riley had a working-class background from growing up in Broome County with parents who worked in factories.
Eiss also said Riley’s campaign could resonate with Republican voters.
“Everything in his career has been guided by his roots in Binghamton,” Eiss said. “There’s a lot of shared values and I think Josh, because of his roots in Broome County and commitment to working people, the issues he talks about are not Democrat and Republican, they’re about change versus the status quo.”
The 19th New York Congressional District includes Cortland, Tompkins, Broome, Chenango, Tioga, Delaware, Columbia and Sullivan counties and parts of Ulster County. Both candidates made mention of how large the newly drawn 19th District is.
