Why watch Josh Riley?

Welcome to Josh Riley Watch

…a new podcast keeping track of the legislative actions of Congressman Josh Riley

Who is Josh Riley?

                Josh Riley is a first term congressman, occupying a seat in the US House of Representatives on behalf of the residents of New York’s 19th congressional district, which stretches from Tompkins County in the west all the way across the Hudson River to Rensselaer County and Columbia County bordering Massachusetts in the East.

The in-district residence of Josh Riley is in the city of Ithaca, New York. Ithaca is a small city known as the home of Cornell University and Ithaca College. Ithaca culture combines respect for science with appreciation of the arts. It’s a community that still cherishes the values that all of America used to be known for – the residents of Ithaca believe in liberty, equality, and democracy.

This is no time to stop paying attention to politics.

This is a pivotal time in American history. We are facing immense challenges such as disasters catalyzed by anthropogenic climate change and the social and economic disruption caused artificial intelligence. The core issue of our time, however, is the struggle between democracy and fascism. The issue of whether Americans will live in a free democracy that’s accountable to the voters or a theocratic oligarchy controlled by billionaires and Christian Nationalist preachers will determine how our country deals with all other consequential matters.

Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, but he failed to achieve a strong mandate. Trump could not quite achieve 50 percent of the vote. He obtained just 49.8 percent of the popular vote, and Kamala Harris was not far behind that, with 48.3 percent. That’s just a 1.5 percent difference, a very slim margin of victory. Donald Trump acts as if he has the entire country behind him, but that’s just not true.

What kind of voters supported Josh Riley in 2024?

The race in New York’s 19th congressional district had a slim margin of victory not much bigger than what we saw in the presidential election, but within the smaller scale of a congressional contest. This slim margin demonstrated what a big difference just a few voters can make.

In the 2024 election, the incumbent congressman, Republican Marc Molinaro, lost to Democrat Josh Riley. Josh Riley won with192,647 votes, 51.1% of the electorate, but Marc Molinaro was not far behind with 184,290 votes, 48.9% of ballots. Josh Riley won by only 8,357 votes.

Out of the eleven counties in the 19th congressional district, seven counties voted in favor of the re-election of Marc Molinaro. Given that county-level slant toward Molinaro, how did Josh Riley manage to win the election?

It wasn’t because of Broome County, where Riley’s margin of victory failed to make up for Molinaro’s edge elsewhere. In Broome County, Riley won by only 1,929 votes, a small margin that was more than made up for with Molinaro’s victory in Chenango by over 5,000 votes.

Riley had stronger showings in Ulster and Columbia counties, with victories of between four and five thousand votes in each. Still, the Democratic edge in these counties was not enough to put Josh Riley over the line to win the election.

It was Tompkins County, home to the city of Ithaca, that gave Josh Riley his victory in the 2024 congressional election. In Tompkins County, Josh Riley got 75 percent of the vote, an astounding 50 percent lead over Marc Molinaro. Josh Riley banked 22,924 more votes than Marc Molinaro in Tompkins County. That’s more than Riley’s margin of victory in the other three Democratic-leaning counties of the district combined.

The mathematics of Josh Riley’s 2024 victory are plain and simple. It was Ithaca, New York and Tompkins County that delivered the election to Riley, carrying the weight for Democrats in the entire rest of the district. Without the remarkable achievement of the voters of Tompkins County, Josh Riley would have lost the election.

What you need to know about the Democrats of Ithaca and Tompkins County is that they are not conservative, or even centrist. The Democratic Party voters of Tompkins County are strongly liberal. The same goes for the independent voters of the Ithaca area. They’re progressives, not swing voters.

So, Josh Riley was sent to the US Congress by the liberal voters of Ithaca and Tompkins County. Right wing Blue Dog Democrats had nothing to do with it.

Why would anyone want to watch Josh Riley?

You would think that Josh Riley would act accordingly with his work in the US House of Representatives. You would think that Josh Riley would be one of the most strongly progressive members of Congress.

Unfortunately, in 2025, nothing can be taken for granted. Donald Trump won the presidential election by an extremely small margin, but is acting as if he has a strong mandate for the most extreme parts of his fascist agenda.

So, the voters of Ithaca and Tompkins County know that they can’t just sit back and relax, confident that Josh Riley is going to represent their values in Congress. The responsibilities of citizenship in a democracy don’t end on Election Day. That’s when they begin. We need to track every significant vote made by Congressman Josh Riley.

The story of what happens to Josh Riley as he enters Congress and reacts to the pressures exerted by power in Washington DC is a microcosm of the larger story of the political transformation taking over the United States of America. Donald Trump and his fascist followers have become expert at bullying their opponents into submission. Will the same happen with Josh Riley?

Josh Riley Watch will help voters in Ithaca and Tompkins County to follow the record of Josh Riley in Congress. The emphasis will be on describing what Josh Riley actually does, rather than the speeches that he makes. We will be covering his most significant votes and other concrete legislative actions on Capitol Hill, whether his actions are positive or negative.

As of the moment that I’m recording this podcast episode, there have already been two significant votes on standalone legislation by Representative Josh Riley. So, check back in soon for a summary of that legislation, and an analysis of what they reveal about the politics of Riley in action.