The midterms are less than four months away. But before then, voters in four districts will have to go to the polls to fill vacancies caused by death and resignation. And the results in Alaska, Minnesota, and New York, could provide some data on how the political environment has shifted in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
In New York, resignations have left upstate New York two representatives short. Voters in the 19th and 23rd Districts will fill those two vacancies on August 23 — the same day as New York’s delayed congressional primary elections.
New York’s 19th District
Two-term Rep. Antonio Delgado left Congress this spring to become New York’s Lieutenant Governor, after Gov. Kathy Hochul’s first pick for the job resigned following his indictment on federal bribery charges. Now, both parties are battling for Delgado’s vacant seat in an August 23 special election.
Republican Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, who was his party’s nominee for governor in 2018, is running against Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan.
Joe Biden would have carried the district by just 1.5 points, 49.7-48.2 percent. In the current political environment, with a deeply unpopular Democratic president, this district will be much more difficult for Democrats to win than in 2020, when Delgado won a 12-point victory over an underfunded GOP challenger.
Molinaro, 46, is a solid candidate for Republicans. He declined to run for this seat last cycle, much to the dismay of party strategists hoping to recruit him after he carried the district by double-digits, 53-42 percent, in the 2018 gubernatorial race (even as Delgado ousted GOP Rep. John Faso, 51-46 percent).
A county executive since 2012, Molinaro has been running for Congress since...