Democrats oust two House Republicans in New York, clawing back GOP gains

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Democrats in New York unseated two first-term Republican incumbents in the U.S. House on Tuesday, one in the Hudson Valley and the other in Syracuse, rolling back GOP gains in districts across the state.

New Yorkers were expected to play an outsized role Tuesday in determining control of the U.S. House as Republicans clung to suburban seats they won two years ago by seizing on fears of crime, and Democrats tried to claw them back by warning that a right-wing Congress might ban abortion.

Democrat Josh Riley beat Rep. Marc Molinaro, a freshman incumbent who was trying to hold a district that stretches from the Massachusetts border to the Finger Lakes region.

Riley, an lawyer from Ithaca, campaigned on his support for abortion rights and called for stronger border controls to counter Republican criticisms of federal immigration policy. Before he ran for office, Riley had once been a policy analyst at U.S. Department of Labor and formerly served as general counsel to former U.S. Sen. Al Franken.

In a central New York district that includes Syracuse, Democratic state Sen. John Mannion defeated Republican Rep. Brandon Williams. Williams was considered one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents this year because state Democratic leaders redrew his district to make it very favorable to their party.

Democrats maintained control of a critical seat in the Hudson Valley, with U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan fending off Republican challenger Alison Esposito. Even as he celebrated his victory, Ryan, an Army veteran, acknowledged in a speech to supporters that the early election returns had left many Democrats in the room on edge.

“I know everybody is anxious right now, I’m anxious right now," he said, "but to a certain degree all you can control is what’s in your community.”

Democrats had hoped to pick off a handful of Republican incumbents in congressional races on Long Island and in the Hudson River Valley, as well as the central New York district Mannion won.

The slew of competitive elections underscore the hidden political complexity of New York, which is associated with Democrats like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez but has also given rise to Republican stars like U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, the chair of the House Republican Conference. Jeffries, Ocasio-Cortez and Stefanik all held on to their seats Tuesday.

On Long Island, Republican U.S. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito was in a tough rematch with Democrat Laura Gillen, a former town supervisor he defeated in 2022. The Associated Press had not declared a winner in the race as of early Wednesday morning, but Gillen claimed victory, saying in a statement that voters had chosen “common sense over chaos and corruption.”

Further out on Long Island, Republicans held on to a House seat that’s been under the party’s control for a decade. U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota defeated Democrat John Avlon, a former host and political analyst for CNN.

On both sides, the strategy has been to play to moderate suburban voters while casting opponents as extremists.

In 2022, Republicans in New York City's suburbs thrived with campaigns that portrayed the nearby city as having become lawless during the pandemic. Crime rates have dropped significantly since then, but Republicans have kept pressing crime as an issue while also trying to capitalize on suburban unease about immigration policy and an influx of international migrants.

Democrats moved to mount a stronger defense to voters’ concerns about crime and immigration. They also hammered Republicans on abortion — a tactic that didn't produce anticipated wins for the party two years ago in a state where abortion rights are not generally seen as under threat.

Republican gains on Long Island were eroded last year when former U.S. Rep. George Santos was expelled from Congress after he was revealed to have fabricated his life story and defrauded campaign donors.

Santos was replaced in a special election by Democratic U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, who had previously represented the district for three terms before stepping down to challenge Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2022.

Suozzi won reelection Tuesday in a race against Republican Mike LiPetri, a former state lawmaker, a victory possibly aided by tweaks made to the district’s boundaries earlier this year that trimmed out a more conservative section of Long Island.

In the suburbs north of New York City, Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler was leading former U.S. Rep. Mondaire Jones, a Democrat who previously represented part of the district before its boundaries were redrawn for the 2022 election. Lawler declared victory in the race, although the AP had not declared a winner as of early Wednesday morning.

The contest received extra attention in early October when The New York Times obtained a photo of Lawler wearing blackface in 2006 at a college Halloween party where he dressed as Michael Jackson. Lawler said the outfit was intended to be an homage to a childhood idol.

Lawler appeared to embrace the controversy when he declared victory late Tuesday, saying “Folks, tonight the Hudson Valley told Mondaire Jones to ‘Beat It!’” after taking the stage while Jackson’s hit song played, and even throwing in a theatrical high kick.

In the one New York congressional race not involving an incumbent, Democrat George Latimer defeated Republican Dr. Miriam Levitt Flisser. Latimer had beaten U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman in a Democratic primary in June, making Bowman the first member of the progressive band of liberals known as the “Squad” to lose a reelection bid.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y, speaks in New York, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

FILE - U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks during the first day of Democratic National Convention, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. Ocasio-Cortez is the Democrat candidate for New York's 14th Congressional District. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., during an interview with The Associated Press, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Irvine, Calif. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

FILE - This undated photo shows Josh Riley, Democrat candidate for U.S. Congress in New York's 19th District. (Josh Riley for Congress via AP, File)

FILE - U.S. Rep. Marc Molinaro, R-N.Y., speaks to reporters outside of the offices of the Speaker of the House on Capitol Hill, Oct. 4, 2023 in Washington. Molinaro is the Republican candidate in New York's 19th Congressional District. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

FILE - Alison Esposito, greets supporters during a campaign rally, Oct. 31, 2022, in Westchester, N.Y. Esposito is the Republican candidate in New York's 18th Congressional District. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, FIle)

FILE - Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters at the National Purple Heart Museum, in New Windsor, NY, Nov. 2, 2022. Ryan is running for re-election in New York's 18th congressional district. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink, File)

FILE - Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., speaks during the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 21, 2024, in Chicago. Suozzi is the Democrat candidate for New York's 3rd Congressional District. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Poll worker Marion Jordan-Mcfarlane helps guide voters to get their ballots at a busy polling site in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Democratic candidate, John Avlon, left, and Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y. debate for New York's 1st Congressional District, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Bethpage, N.Y. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Voters cast their ballots at the Bronx County Supreme Court in New York on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

New York State Senator John Mannion, Democratic candidate for New York's 22nd congressional district, meets with representatives and members of the United Steelworkers in Geddes, N.Y. Thursday. Oct. 24. 2024. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

Voters cast their ballots at the Church of the Heavenly Rest in New York on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

FILE - Rep. Brandon Williams, R-N.Y., speaks during a session at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Dec. 9, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Williams is the Republican candidate in New York's 22nd Congressional District. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel, File)

Voters cast their ballots at the P.S. 256 in the Brooklyn borough of New York on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

FILE - Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, R-N.Y., arrives for a meeting of Republicans on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 24, 2023. D'Esposito is the Republican candidate in New York's District 4. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Vesta Avery, 2, helps her mother Alexis Taylor mark her ballot at P.S. M811, The Mickey Mantle School, in New York, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Laura Gillen, Democratic candidate for New York's 4th Congressional District, listens during a roundtable discussion outlining her policy platform to lower healthcare costs for Latino families, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Freeport, N.Y. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)

Voters cast their ballots at the Bronx County Supreme Court in New York on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez won reelection in New Mexico’s swing district along the U.S.-Mexico border, in a rematch against the Republican he ousted in 2022.

GOP challenger Yvette Herrell waged her fourth consecutive campaign for Congress in the majority-Latino district that stretches from the border to Albuquerque.

Separately, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich won reelection Tuesday to a third term in New Mexico, defeating Republican nominee Nella Domenici — the daughter of longtime U.S. Sen. Pete V. Domenici — in her first bid for public office.

In the 2nd Congressional District, Democratic state lawmakers redrew congressional boundaries in 2021 to divvy up a politically conservative, oil-producing region among three districts.

Vasquez, a former Las Cruces city councilor, has invoked his knowledge of the border region and its economy as the U.S.-born son of immigrants from Mexico. His campaign has proposed safeguards against cartels that smuggle drugs or migrants, a humanitarian approach to asylum-seekers and support for abortion rights.

Herrell, a real estate agent and former state legislator, campaigned this year alongside Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson in favor of hard-line immigration enforcement policies. She has denounced oversight of the border under President Biden while advocating for a return to efforts by former President Donald Trump to expand the border wall and to enforce requirements that asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court.

The district still includes portions of the oil-rich Permian Basin, and Herrell has cast herself as a staunch advocate for the energy industry in the No. 2 state for petroleum production after Texas. Vasquez unsuccessfully proposed creation of a compensation fund for uninsured medical costs related to air pollution and heat-related illness, in a bill geared toward oilfield workers.

On abortion access, Herrell has downplayed Congress’ role and says she’ll defer to state law after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade. She previously supported legislation in Congress to restrict abortion access.

New Mexico abortion laws are among the most liberal in the nation. Vasquez supports initiatives in Congress to uphold abortion rights.

During her term in Congress, Herrell joined Republicans on Jan. 6, 2021, in rejecting the certification of Biden’s election victory in Arizona and Pennsylvania. She also voted against a bipartisan 2021 law that invested billions in America’s infrastructure.

The district’s voting age population is roughly 56% Latino — with centuries-old ties to Mexican and Spanish settlement — and 5% Native American, traversing the Mescalero Apache Reservation, four pueblo communities, outlying portions of the Navajo Nation and land holdings of the Oklahoma-based Fort Sill Apache Tribe.

Meanwhile in a hard-fought Senate race, Heinrich won over voters while highlighting his work on infrastructure, energy policy and an expansion of national security spending at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He’s been an advocate for gun safety and voiced support for an overhaul of Senate filibuster rules that can be easily used to hinder or block votes.

Domenici, a former executive at hedge fund giant Bridgewater Associates, failed to gain traction while touting her business know-how and concerns about crime, inflation and public education.

She characterized the U.S.-Mexico border as a crisis of crime and drugs, and advocated for expanding alternatives to traditional public schools.

The Senate candidates clashed on abortion rights as New Mexico increasingly serves as a destination for care for patients traveling from nearby states where the procedure is banned. Heinrich supports an expansion of federal abortion guarantees, while Domenici emphasized state rights and said she'd focus on efforts to reduce unintended pregnancies through education and birth control.

Domenici said she’d vote for Trump, though she didn’t mention him much while campaigning. Trump lost the 2020 vote in New Mexico by an 11% margin. Domenici’s father was the last New Mexico Republican to serve in the Senate, retiring after six terms in 2009.

He was the longest serving New Mexico senator, who chaired powerful Senate budget and energy committees.

Boisy Pinon votes on Election Day with her daughter, Emili, 9, by her side at the Bernalillo County Visitor Center in the South Valley of Albuquerque, N.M., on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Chancey Bush/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

Natalie Garcia, 38, wears gemstone heels while she votes on Election Day at the Clerk's Annex in northwest Albuquerque, N.M., Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Chancey Bush/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

Daniel Barth, 38, center, waits in line to cast his vote on Election Day at the Bernalillo County Visitor Center while the sunsets in the South Valley of Albuquerque, N.M., on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Chancey Bush/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

Kassandra Varela casts her vote on Election Day while her 4-year-old son, Apollo, waits by her side at the Bernalillo County Visitor Center in Albuquerque, N.M., on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Chancey Bush/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

People wait in line to vote on Election Day at the Bernalillo County Visitor Center while the sunsets in the South Valley of Albuquerque, N.M., on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Chancey Bush/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

Mariana Quiroz and Ethan Hernandez wait in a long line to cast their vote at Las Cruces, N.M., City Hall to cast their ballots on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

Joey Ferno, 4, plays on the floor while his mother Whitney, top, casts her ballot at the Your Vote Center in Petroglyph Plaza on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Albuquerque, N.M. (Gino Gutierrez/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

People enter Las Cruces, N.M., City Hall to cast their ballots on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

Voters cast their ballots at the Your Vote Center in the Andalucia Shopping Center on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Albuquerque, N.M. (Gino Gutierrez/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

FILE - Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., listens during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, May 2, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)

FILE - Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Nella Domenici is seen, Feb. 6, 2024, in Santa Fe, N.M. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee, File)

FILE - Republican candidate for New Mexico's 2nd Congressional District Yvette Herrell speaks at a campaign event in Las Cruces, N.M., Aug. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton, File)

FILE - Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., speaks during a news conference to announce the bipartisan Southwest Caucus, June 15, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)