More than $26 million has so far been poured in the battleground 19th Congressional District race between Republican Rep. Marc Molinaro against Democrat Josh Riley – making it the costliest in New York and the seventh priciest in the country.
Molinaro, a first-term congressman who narrowly beat Riley in 2022 to rep the upstate district, noted the massive amount of cash being spent on both sides during a recent event, calling it nearly “obscene.”
“I have become a little bit more angry than I used to be,” Molinaro told a crowd at the Ulster County Chamber of Commerce’s candidates forum last week, seemingly deviating from his usual stump speeches.
“Please cut through the TV ads and the digital ads and the mail cards, and by the way on both sides, everybody spends far too much money in order to promote their particular side of the aisle and their candidate,” Molinaro begged the gathering of business big wigs.
“It’s almost to the extent, obscene,” he said.
According to disclosure reports compiled by OpenSecrets, Molinaro’s campaign as well as outside spending groups like Super PAC’s and non-profit organizations have spent around $12 million.
On the flip side, Riley’s campaign and outside spending groups on his side have spent around $14 million so far this cycle.
In 2022, the candidates and outside groups only spent just shy of $20 million on the race total, almost split evenly between the two sides.
Recent polling is showing the district is a true toss up. The race was determined by a margin of around 4,500 votes last cycle.
Insiders have noted that the fierce nature of the rematch has prompted the candidates to change the way they approach the campaign, with Molinaro – who long presented himself as a moderate – changing his tune to appeal to the Republican base.
Voters tell The Post they’ve seen Molinaro morph since he ran as the 2018 GOP gubernatorial candidate, too.
“I think when he ran against [former Gov. Andrew] Cuomo, I had issues with him. I thought he was a bit wishy washy. I thought just afraid to come out and speak his mind,” Paul Bombard, of North Greenbush, told The Post at a recent rally in Rensselaer County.
“Then he went up against Josh, and I saw a different guy. I said to my wife, I’m going, ‘that’s the guy I was looking for a few years ago when he was going against Cuomo.’ He’s not afraid to just come out and say, ‘hey, you know, you’ve been lying about this,’” Bombard said.
Bombard, who used to own an electrical business, said he previously voted Democrat, but former President Donald Trump won him over in his first bid for the White House in 2016.
Molinaro introduced the rally’s headliner, North Country Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the number three Republican in the House.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the event, Stefanik defended Molinaro’s commitment to the GOP and the party’s 2024 presidential candidate.
“Marc supports President Trump and President Trump supports Marc,” Stefanik said.
Molinaro, who didn’t vote for Trump in 2016, doesn’t regularly sing the former president’s praises in his stump speeches — but he’s also quick to dispel the notion that he isn’t on the “Trump Train.”
“I support the former president. I think Donald Trump and a Trump administration will, without question, provide, not only border security, but obviously commit to keeping American America safe,” Molinaro said, flanked by Stefanik and surrounded by a crowd of curious onlookers ahead of the rally.
“And on any given day, I could not support four more years of a, surrender of the southern border, a massive increase in cost of living for the people I represent and a weakening of America,” Molinaro continued.
The remarks stand in stark contrast to Molinaro’s messaging in the previous cycle. After declaring victory on election night in 2022, he touted the importance of House leadership giving deference to reps in “purple” districts like his and of promoting an air of cooperation between the two parties.
“I am not going to Washington, DC, to blame people for why things have gone wrong. I am not going to Washington, DC to waste time attacking others or belittling people with whom I might disagree,” Molinaro said at the time.
Molinaro told reporters in Albany this week that he doesn’t foresee him and Riley being friends in any capacity after this year’s race is over.
Both his and Riley’s campaign declined to comment.