Why New York?
The U.S. House is critically important this year. We need to flip 5 seats to take back the U.S. House; NY-19 and 17 are prime candidates. In 2022, both were won by Republicans by extremely small margins (1.5% in NY-19, less than 1% in NY-17 ) in “crossover” districts, which voted for Biden but elected Republican representatives. CNN calls NY (and California) the “epicenters” of the battle to win back the House, and Swing Left has identified New York as one of 12 key states for 2024.
What we can do
NY-19, 18 and 17 are “field margin” districts – super close races where field work can make all the difference. We need your help!!
In NY-19, the Democratic challenger, Josh Riley, is battling incumbent Marc Molinaro in a rematch. We will focus on the eastern end of this sprawling district (just over the Mass border driving on the Mass Pike) which runs from upper Hudson Valley to Ithaca.
In NY-17, (north of Westchester through Dutchess County) former Rep. Mondaire Jones is running against MAGA incumbent Mike Lawler to regain the seat Jones held from 2020 to 2022.
And in NY-18 in the Hudson Valley, incumbent Democrat Pat Ryan, who won by less than a point in 2022, will defend his seat in a district that is slightly more Democratic after the 2024 redistricting.
Please sign up for our canvassing events in NY-19 and phone banking in NY-18. We will keep you posted as additional opportunities to defend democracy become available.
What we’ve done so far
Democrats won the February special election in NY-3 on Long Island to replace disgraced and expelled George Santos with Tom Suozzi. Grassroots groups from around the country, including Swing Blue Alliance, were involved with phone banking and post carding.
Swing Blue Alliance’s Jeff Lobo and Steve Vogel ran phone banks coordinated with the campaign twice weekly, with about 30 volunteers on each phone bank. The Swing Blue Alliance crew spoke with over 2,500 supporters, and recruited 80 volunteers for the campaign. Eight canvassers traveled to Long Island to knock doors on the weekend of 1/20-21. Recently, phone bankers have been making calls to stop Republicans’ dirty tricks in the NY-17 primary.