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GOSHEN — U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan, who ran on reproductive rights and gun control, will be representing the Hudson Valley in Washington for another term.
The Democrat claimed victory Tuesday night over Republican challenger Alison Esposito in the race to represent New York’s 18th Congressional District. With 520 of 586 election districts reporting, Ryan lead by about 39,383 votes, according to the state Board of Elections.
The district, which includes Orange and parts of Dutchess and Ulster Counties, has been represented by a Democrat in Congress since 1983.
“We lifted up the very best of the Hudson Valley, and today, I’m so proud our community showed up in overwhelming support of that mission,” Ryan said in a statement Tuesday night. “I love our community, I love our country and I cannot wait to get back to work serving and delivering for Hudson Valley families.”
Ryan grew up in Kingston, attended U.S. Military Academy at West Point and served two tours in Iraq. He worked in technology before he mounted his first congressional campaign in 2018, losing to now-Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado in New York’s 19th District. Ryan then spent three years as Ulster County executive.
He was first elected to the House of Representatives in June 2022, defeating Republican Marc Molinaro in a special election to fill Delgado’s seat. That race was seen as a referendum on abortion — an issue that remained central to Ryan’s political identity as he defeated conservative state Assemblyman Colin Schmitt for a full term in Congress later that year.
The 18th District race was one of several hotly contested congressional elections across the state this year. Polls showed Ryan gaining an edge in recent weeks — an Emerson College poll released last month gave him a 10-point lead over Esposito, as opposed to a 5-point lead at the beginning of the month.
Esposito conceded the race around 11 p.m. on Tuesday night, addressing supporters at an election watch party. In her speech, she said she had spoken with Ryan, and that they had “a very nice conversation” in which she wished him luck in his second term. She also thanked her supporters and her campaign staff, joking that “we would have lost this much earlier if I had been allowed to Tweet on my own.”
“I told him that I believed that we had the best interests of our country at heart and I asked him to spend his next term putting our people first,” she said. “Even if we didn’t get in, the powers that be are still in motion and I believe our country is on the path to be saved.”
A 25-year veteran of the New York Police Department, Esposito rose to the rank of deputy inspector and commanding officer of the 70th Police Precinct before retiring to run for lieutenant governor alongside Lee Zeldin in 2022. She branded herself a law-and-order candidate — advocating against New York’s retooled bail statutes and calling for tighter security at the southern border. Had she been elected, Esposito would have been the first openly gay Republican woman to serve in Congress.
In May, Esposito’s campaign came under scrutiny after a progressive group alleged she had used a total of $2,414 in campaign funds to pay for a parking spot near her Manhattan environment. Ryan has also accused her of moving to the area for the sole purpose of running for the NY-18 seat — an allegation she denied.
The candidates traded barbs over policy differences on reproductive rights and public safety. Esposito accused Ryan of being a “rubber stamp for the Biden-Harris administration” on what she said have been lax policies on border security and crime. But Ryan has broken from his party in the past, especially on the topic of the southern border — he supported a bill that discouraged schools from sheltering migrants and joined Republican colleagues to call on President Joe Biden to declare a state of emergency on the issue.
Ryan, meanwhile criticized Esposito’s stance on reproductive rights, claiming that she supports banning abortion, even in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is in danger. Esposito disputes those claims, noting she supports abortion as a “safe, rare” form of treatment and denies that she would ever support a national ban.
Both candidates made appeals to the middle, courting the district’s undecided voters up until the end of the race. Ryan touted his bipartisan attitude in Congress and his record of standing up to the leaders of his own party, while Esposito stressed her credentials as an outsider to the world of politics.
In an interview last month, Ryan said freedom was the central issue at stake last year — which he said included “reproductive freedom,” “freedom from gun violence,” and the “freedom to breathe clean air,” among others. As he approaches a second term, Ryan said his first legislative priorities would be protecting national access to Mifepristone and other abortion medication, as well as increasing funding for local law enforcement agencies.
