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Harold Reedy Jr. fills out his ballot during primary voting at the Phyllis Bornt Branch Library on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022, in Schenectady, N.Y. (Paul Buckowski/Times Union)
A sign outside the polling station located in the Phyllis Bornt Branch Library on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022, in Schenectady, N.Y. (Paul Buckowski/Times Union)
U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (left) is facing state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi (right) in the Democratic primary for New York’s 17th Congressional District in the Hudson Valley.
Carl Paladino speaks during the annual state Conservative Party Political Action Conference in 2015 (Will Waldron/Times Union)
ALBANY — An unusually tumultuous primary election season for Congress and the state Senate ends Tuesday, though it’s unclear whether the results in key races will be known by the night’s end.
The elections were originally to be held on June 28. But it has been a year of redistricting — the once-a-decade process of redrawing district lines based on new census figures –—and lines drawn by the Democrat-controlled Legislature were successfully overturned by litigation.
In late April, the state Court of Appeals found that the lines were drawn by Democrat-led lawmakers in a partisan manner and unconstitutional, resulting in a court-appointed special master drawing the congressional and state Senate lines. The primary date was moved to Aug. 23 and the unexpected new lines caused a scramble, with members of Congress or the state Senate running in districts that did not include their residences, or even pitting well-established sitting lawmakers against each other.
As has become customary, outside money uncapped by any donation limits flooded certain races.
According to the state Board of Elections, $1.57 million has been spent by outside independent expenditure committees seeking to influence the state Senate races.
The biggest spender — $672,000 — has been the “Coalition to Restore New York,” which is funded by Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. The business-backed group is supporting a number of moderate Democrats in Senate races, and has the stated mission of “promoting responsible governance that improves the lives of hardworking New Yorkers.”
The second-biggest spender, at $369,000, has been “New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany,” a charter-school advocacy group that was once a key factor in propping up a narrow Republican majority in the state Senate; and which has been largely backed by hedge fund magnates and the Walton family, heirs to the Walmart fortune.
Since Democrats took control of the chamber in 2018, the group has shifted to seeking to elect charter-friendly Democrats, and has poured most of its money this year into backing a challenger to Bronx state Sen. Gustavo Rivera. Rivera has the support of many liberal groups, while the Bronx Democratic Party machine is supporting his challenger, Miguelina Camilo. On Tuesday, Rivera issued an Election Day press release alleging numerous instances of improper electioneering by Camilo-supporting poll workers were occurring at Bronx polling places.
For Congress, one of the most closely watched races nationally has been the Hudson Valley battle between a sitting Democrat, U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, and state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi. Maloney is the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, a powerful post that’s charged with keeping the party in control of Congress. He has the backing of party establishment figures including Hillary Clinton.
Biaggi has a reputation as a fiery progressive in Albany, and has support from influential liberals including U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York City, as well as the liberal Working Families Party.
During the race, both candidates’ treatment of their legislative staff has come into question, with a recent Politico report highlighting past instances where Biaggi acted harshly towards employees, a contradiction with her public stances on workplace behavior.
Outside spending in the race has included $491,000 that the New York City Police Benevolent Association has spent to target Biaggi, who has been critical of law enforcement. The union has in the past endorsed former President Donald J. Trump, a Republican; Maloney has declined to condemn the spending benefiting him.
Another group called Our Hudson PAC, which has been largely funded by $300,000 from National Association of Realtors, has spent $160,000 targeting Biaggi. The Working Families Party, meanwhile, has spent $110,000 supporting her bid.
In May, Maloney opted to run in the new 17th Congressional District, forcing the current representative, Mondaire Jones, to decide whether to take on Maloney in a primary or challenge U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman in a primary for the 16th District (or to run in another race). Jones chose the last option and is now tied in polling for third place in the New York City-based 10th District.
Maloney’s move drew the ire of some Democrats, including Ocasio-Cortez, who called on Maloney to resign his DCCC chairmanship. Biaggi says it was Maloney’s undercutting of Jones that inspired her to vacate her plans to run in New York’s 3rd District and instead challenge Maloney in the 17th. Supporters of Maloney see this move as opportunistic.
The most confusing contest on Tuesday is the special election in the current 19th Congressional District between Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro and Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan, which will determine who will serve the final four months of former Rep. Antonio Delgado’s term. Delgado was selected as Gov. Kathy Hochul’s second lieutenant governor in the wake of Brian Benjamin’s resignation from the position after his indictment on federal criminal charges.
Some voters in the district will be voting in two contests: the special to fill the empty seat and the primary to determine the contestants in November’s general election. Because redistricting kicks in for the midterms, however, some voters will find themselves in different districts for the primary and the special election even though they’ll be voting on both at the same time.
There’s more potential confusion: While Molinaro and Ryan are facing each other in the special election, both candidates are simultaneously running in the midterms but in different districts. Molinaro is running in the newly drawn 19th, which stretches all the way to Ithaca and no longer includes any part of Dutchess County. Ryan is a candidate in the 18th District, which includes most of Dutchess and Ulster counties and all of Orange County.
In western New York’s 23rd District, the Republicans have their own unpleasant grudge match, with GOP state party Chairman Nick Langworthy facing off against Buffalo-area businessman and 2010 gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino, whose penchant for racist and sexist rhetoric — he apologized after suggesting in a radio interview that the nation needed a leader as compelling as Hitler — is well-established. Paladino earned an early endorsement from U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, the chamber’s No. 3 Republican.
Speaking of Stefanik: In the 21st District, Democrats Matt Putorti and Matt Castelli are vying for the chance to take on the deeply resourced Republican.
Chris Bragg is a political and investigative reporter for the Capitol bureau and contributor to Capitol Confidential. You can reach him at cbragg@timesunion.com or 518-454-5303.