NY-19: House Republicans' biggest recruitment flop
The filing deadline in New York state closed Thursday, bringing a disappointing end to House Republicans’ long search to find a candidate to take on Rep. Antonio Delgado. The freshman Democrat ousted GOP Rep. John Faso by 5 points in one of the most competitive House races of the midterms but now this Hudson Valley seat likely represents the NRCC’s biggest recruitment flop anywhere in the country.
After a grueling midterm that left him with high negatives, Faso ruled out a rematch in May of last year. Republican recruiters then spent months trying to entice Marc Molinario, the Dutchess County executive who carried the seat by 11 points in 2018 despite a blowout loss statewide to Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo. But after winning reelection last year, Molinario said he ultimately decided it would be “disingenuous” to run for Congress immediately after beginning another term in Poughkeepsie.
Meanwhile, a retired two-star general in the race dropped out in January after failing to raise six-figures. Some Republicans made a late attempt to drag in Bartle Bull, a businessman and journalist, that was ultimately unsuccessful. There are three other Republicans who have filed with the FEC, including fashion designer Ola Hawatmeh and Mike Roth, who believes upstate New York and New York City should be in separate states. But party strategists don’t believe any of them will be able to raise serious money. And Delgado was sitting on $2 million in the bank at the end of 2019.
House Republicans have made the 30 Democratic-held districts that Trump won in 2016 a central part of their path back to the majority. Not only does Delgado’s seat fall in this category, but it is one of just eight that the president carried with more than 50 percent of the vote. It’s hard to imagine Republicans winning back the House if they can’t field a candidate in a district like this.
Both parties managed to line up decent candidates in other targeted districts in the state. State Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis has a clear shot at Democratic Rep. Max Rose in a Staten Island battleground, and former Rep. Claudia Tenney is vying for a rematch with Democratic Rep. Anthony Brindisi. There are crowded Democratic primaries set to take on Republican Reps. John Katko and Lee Zeldin. Democrat Jackie Gordon and Republican Andrew Garbarino are the names to watch in the open NY-02.
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