The position:
As per the Constitution, the U.S. House of Representatives makes and passes federal laws. The House is one of Congress’ two chambers (the other is the U.S. Senate), and part of the federal government’s legislative branch. The number of voting representatives in the House is fixed by law at no more than 435, proportionally representing the population of the 50 states.
District area: New York's 19th Congressional District covers Broome, Chenango, Columbia, Delaware, Greene, Sullivan, Tioga and Tompkins Counties and parts of Cortland, Otsego and Ulster Counties.
Term & salary: Two-year term, no term limits; $174,000
Each candidate was asked to limit answers to 100 to 150 words. WSKG cut answers at the 150 mark. If you would like more details about a candidate’s answer to a question, their contact information is provided in this Voter Guide.
Candidate: Josh Riley
Incumbent - First elected 2024
Party affiliation: Democratic, Working Families
Campaign contact information: info@joshrileyforcongress.com
WSKG Q&A:
Grocery prices increased by 33 percent between the start of 2019 and June 2026. How would you combat these growing prices?
When our farmers face higher costs, it not only hurts their bottom line, it also drives up food prices for everyone. Since Trump launched his reckless war in Iran, fertilizer and diesel prices have skyrocketed, making life harder for our farmers and groceries more expensive for everyone. That is why I have voted to end the war, and it’s why I sponsored the Fertilizer Transparency Act to help farmers get a fair price.
The war in Iran has made a bad situation worse. Big Ag corporations (like Conagra) have spent decades monopolizing the market and driving up prices–all while handing out corporate PAC checks to politicians. I am fighting back with legislation that stops big corporations from charging small businesses higher prices than they charge the big chain stores, and I introduced the first ever federal ban on price gouging.
Bureaucracy and red tape are also driving up grocery prices.[WSKG Note: Candidate answer exceeded the 150 word limit]
Around 700 hospitals in rural areas across the country are at risk of closure. A 2025 report from the New York State Comptroller’s Office found a significant shortage of healthcare professionals in some rural New York counties.What would you do to support access to health care in rural areas?
Healthcare should be a civil right in America, not something that bankrupts families and drives corporate profits. I’ve heard from too many constituents who need to drive long distances for the care they need, and too many others whose insurance companies have been denied the care they need.
That is why I voted against Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill because it cuts $1 trillion from our public health system, which threatens to close our rural hospitals and drives up costs for everyone, all to provide tax breaks for big corporations. (My opponent has fully supported that legislation and has even attacked me for opposing it.)
While fighting against cuts to healthcare, I have also been working across the aisle to improve healthcare in Upstate New York. For example:
- My bipartisan Rural Hospital Stabilization Act would invest billions in rural hospitals.
- My bipartisan Care Over Profits Act would ensure that more…[WSKG Note: Candidate answer exceeded the 150 word limit]
Would you support legislation that would ban members of Congress from trading stocks while in office?
Yes. There’s way too much corruption in politics, and it needs to end. Public service should be about serving the public, not enriching yourself. But too many self-serving politicians are trading stocks based on inside information, and that hurts all of us. That is why I am leading the bipartisan effort in Congress to ban politicians from owning or trading stocks in office. I have also introduced the Drain the Swamp Act, which is the most comprehensive government reform legislation ever introduced in Congress. It would ban stock trading, impose term limits, overturn Citizens United, ban corporate PACs.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act made Immigration and Customs Enforcement the highest funded law enforcement agency in the country. Would you vote to increase, decrease or maintain funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement? Do you think that ICE should be reformed or abolished?
Our immigration system should be tough and fair. I was critical of the Biden Administration’s handling of the border because it was not tough enough, and I have been critical of the Trump Administration’s deportation agenda because it has not been fair.
Like most Upstate New Yorkers, I believe that people who are here unlawfully and committing crimes should be removed, and I believe that people who are working hard, paying their taxes, and contributing to our community should have a shot at the American Dream, just like generations of immigrants before them.
I voted against giving ICE the blank check that the Trump Administration demanded. Instead of the Trump Administration’s indiscriminate mass deportation regime, we should invest in a secure border, responsible law enforcement, due process, and an immigration system that can quickly and fairly process claims.
My office has a dedicated caseworker who handles immigration cases, including for…[WSKG Note: Candidate answer exceeded the 150 word limit]
What is your foreign policy vision for the United States? Do you think we should be at war with Iran?
Iran is a dangerous adversary that sponsors global terrorism and wishes “death to America,” but I do not believe that President Trump’s war in Iran is the right way to address that threat. The war was started with no input from the American people, no workable strategy, and no clearly stated goals. It has cost us American lives, and it has made America less safe by emboldening Iran.
The war in Iran is also creating unacceptable costs at home. Diesel prices have doubled to about $6.50 per gallon and fertilizer prices have spiked by about 50%. Those costs are crushing Upstate farmers, and they’re translating into higher grocery prices for everyone.
I have voted repeatedly for a War Powers Resolution to end the war in Iran and bring costs down here at home. I’ve also sponsored legislation to suspend the federal gas tax, and I voted to expand access to…[WSKG Note: Candidate answer exceeded the 150 word limit]
Do you support federal regulations on data centers? If so, what regulations do you support?
Upstate New Yorkers are already getting crushed by high utility bills, and the last thing we need is big corporations to build data centers and stick us with the bill. That is why I introduced the bipartisan FAIR Data Act, which bans utilities from forcing customers to pay for grid upgrades, transmission lines, and generation needed to power data centers. A version of my plan recently passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support.
My position on data centers is a stark contrast with my opponent’s. He voted to let big corporations move forward with data centers in Upstate New York, even though communities in our district have said they don’t want them and can’t afford them.
How would you address rising energy costs?
I’ve heard from public school teachers taking second jobs, small businesses that have shut down, farmers worried about losing family farms that have been in the family for generations, and seniors on fixed incomes cutting back on medicine or going to food pantries for the first time–all because the utility bills are too high. So one of my very first actions in Congress was to open an investigation to the utility monopolies.
I found that the utility monopolies in our district are owned by foreign corporations that care more about their own profits than our community. I uncovered documents showing that NYSEG sent a $450 million dividend to its parent corporation in Spain and then turned around six months later and demanded a $500 million rate hike from us. When I put NYSEG’s executives under oath, they admitted that they knew they’d demand the rate hike as they were writing…[WSKG Note: Candidate answer exceeded the 150 word limit]
Would you vote for legislation that would codify abortion access? Would you vote for legislation that would restrict access to abortion? Why or why not?
Women’s healthcare decisions are women’s healthcare decisions, and politicians should stay the hell out of it. I sponsored the Women’s Health Protection Act to put Roe v. Wade back into law. My opponent, by contrast, has repeatedly voted to criminalize abortion.
Should the federal government play a role in creating rules for voter registration and requirements for voter identification?
Only American citizens should be able to vote in American elections, and I support common-sense proposals to ensure election integrity. I do not, however, support proposals that make it harder for eligible citizens to vote, including proposals that would disenfranchise rural seniors by making it impossible to vote by mail and disenfranchise married women by requiring identification that matches their maiden name.
The United States provided Israel with $3.3 billion in military aid through the Foreign Military Financing program in 2025. Some lawmakers have introduced legislation that would eliminate military aid to the country or have sought to block arms sales, citing humanitarian concerns. Do you support any changes to U.S. policy on weapons sales or military assistance to Israel?
Like most of my constituents, I believe that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish democracy and that Palestine should have its own state that is safe and secure and governed by civilians who want peace. And, like most of my constituents, I believe that Hamas is an evil terrorist organization that must be defeated and that the Netanyahu Government has acted recklessly and has undermined peace. (People around the world support America and Americans while opposing the Trump Administration just as many of my constituents support Israel and Israelis while opposing the Netenyahu government.)
The violence and suffering we have witnessed in the Middle East for centuries–including these past three years–has been unbearable. The situation in the Middle East must change—for the security of Israel, the dignity and freedom of the Palestinian people, America’s interests, and the prospect of a lasting peace.
I am a sponsor of…[WSKG Note: Candidate answer exceeded the 150 word limit]
What is the biggest challenge facing Americans? How would you address this challenge?
Our political system is corrupt, and it has rigged the economy against everyday Upstate New Yorkers. I learned that lesson growing up in an EJ house on Birdsall Street in a blue-collar neighborhood in Endicott. Big corporations bought off the politicians and shipped thousands of jobs overseas, just to make more profits, while my community faced unemployment, corporate pollution, the opioid epidemic, and a child poverty crisis.
We see it today, too. The utility monopolies take billions of dollars out of our community to pad the profits of foreign corporations. The health insurance companies deny care so they can make more money. Big Ag monopolies squeeze and defraud our family farms, driving them out of business to consolidate power for themselves. Oil companies price gouge consumers and kill alternative energy projects because they don’t want to compete and they know they can get away with it.
You can draw a…[WSKG Note: Candidate answer exceeded the 150 word limit]
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Candidate: Peter Oberacker
Party affiliation: Republican, Conservative
Peter Oberacker did not respond to the WSKG Voter Guide questionnaire.