With more than 95 percent of the vote tallied at 5:33 a.m. ET Wednesday, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) prevailed in a rare incumbent-versus-incumbent Democratic primary race to represent New York’s 12th Congressional District, defeating fellow Democrat Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.).
Nadler is now bound for a November election in which he will be the favorite.
Maloney is a longtime incumbent who has represented New York City’s Upper East Side since 1993, including its 12th Congressional District since 2013.
Nadler has also served in Congress since 1993, representing New York City’s Upper West Side, including its 10th Congressional District since 2013.
He was forced to face Maloney due to a court-mandated redistricting process in New York state that put his home base on the west side of Manhattan together with Maloney’s on the east side. Neither of the lawmakers were willing to run in another part of the city.
Friends for many years, the two Democrats lamented having to run against each other. Maloney said at a recent debate that she didn’t want to run against Nadler, who she called a friend and ally “for years.”
‘Unfortunately, we were drawn into the same district,” she said.
In his victory speech, Nadler said he and Maloney “have spent much of our adult lives working together to better both New York and our nation.”
“I speak for everyone in this room tonight when I thank her for her decades of service to our city,” he said.
Nadler also defeated Suraj Patel, a 38-year-old attorney and former Obama staffer who has now failed to advance out of a Democratic congressional primary in three straight tries.
Ryan Defeats Molinaro
In a hotly contended special election to occupy a vacant House seat for the last four months of the current congressional session, Democrat Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan defeated Republican Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro.
Both Molinaro, New York’s Republican 2018 gubernatorial nominee, and Ryan also won Aug. 23 primaries in different congressional districts and will be on November ballots seeking full terms in Congress.
The Molinaro-Ryan race in the state’s Congressional District 19 (CD 19) was one of two special elections on New York’s Aug. 23 ballot and drew national interest because it is the first election for a competitive seat since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. Both parties viewed the decision as a momentum-builder going into the general election.
The Molinaro and Ryan campaigns spent $3.2 million in their clash to fill the seat vacated by Rep. Antonio Delgado (D-N.Y.) when he resigned in May to become lieutenant governor.
With more than 95 percent of the CD 19 special election vote tallied, Ryan earned 52 percent of the vote.
Ryan also defeated two party rivals in the CD 18 Democratic primary and will square off in the November general election against state Assemblyman Colin Schmitt (R-New Windsor), who was not tested in a primary. CD 18 is rated a “tossup” district by analysts.
The other Aug. 23 special congressional election unfolded in CD 23 where Steuben County Republican Committee Chair Joe Sempolinski defeated Tioga County Democratic Committee Chair Max Della Pia and will serve the remaining four months of Rep. Tom Reed’s (R-N.Y.) term. Reed resigned in May.
Unlike the Molinaro-Ryan affair in CD 19, however, Sempolinski has agreed not to run for a full-term in November, making it a sideshow to what was the noisiest, most contentious primary on New York’s Aug. 23 slate between Buffalo-area real estate developer Carl Paladino, a colorful and controversial frequent candidate, and former state Republican Committee chair Nick Langworthy.
With more than 95 percent of the CD 23 Republican primary vote tallied, Langworthy won by 2 percentage points and will be the favorite against Della Pia in the November general election.
Sean Patrick Maloney Wins
Five-term incumbent Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) defeated progressive state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi (D-Bronx) by more than 30 percentage points in a contentious contest between “establishment” centrists and the party’s far-left wing.
Maloney had won five elections in CD 18—a purple district regarded as a November “tossup”—but is running for a sixth term in neighboring CD 17, another competitive Hudson Valley district that is slightly more favorable for Democrats.
In doing so, Maloney, who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, forced Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), a progressive who is CD 17’s actual sitting incumbent, to seek reelection in deep-blue Manhattan’s CD 10, where he lost in a stiff primary battle to Dan Goldman.
State Assemblyman Mike Lawler (R-Pearl River), a former New York Republican Party executive director, outpolled five Republicans and will take on Maloney in November.
Lawler joins Molinaro in CD 19 and Schmitt in CD 18 as a strong cadre of Republican candidates in the three battleground Hudson Valley districts where November races are rated as “tossups.”
Goldman Advances
Dan Goldman, an impeachment investigator in former President Donald Trump’s trial who pumped $4 million of his own money into his campaign, has won the crowded Manhattan race to claim the seat Nadler left to run in CD 12.
Former President Donald Trump endorsed Goldman in an apparent attempt to undermine his bid.
In the end, Goldman outpolled Jones, who shifted districts when Sean Patrick Maloney sought reelection in CD 17 rather than CD 18. With the loss, Jones joins Maloney as the 12th and 13th incumbents to lose reelection bids in primaries.
Goldman will be the hands-on November favorite to win the deep-blue district’s congressional seat.
Other Highlights
Nick LaLota, a former Amityville Board of Trustees member who currently serves as Suffolk County Legislature chief of staff, has defeated cryptocurrency executive Michelle Bond in their GOP primary clash to occupy the seat vacated by Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) when he won the GOP gubernatorial primary in June.
LaLota, a Navy veteran, in November will face Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming, who was not tested in a Democratic primary. A former prosecutor and Southampton Town councilwoman, she is expected to run a competitive campaign in the purple district spanning the east end of Long Island.
Cazenovia businessman Steve Wells defeated California tech entrepreneur and Sennett farmer Brandon Williams in their CD 22 GOP primary.
Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) won this district in 2020 against Democrat Anthony Brindisi in a race so close that a winner wasn’t declared until February 2021. But like Maloney in CD 17 and Nadler in CD 10, Tenney is running as an incumbent in CD 24, where incumbent Republican Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.) is retiring.
Wells is endorsed by Trump ally Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and will be the favorite in November against Democratic primary winner Francis Conole.
John Haughey and Mimi Nguyen Ly contributed to this report.
