New York Democrats are desperate to avoid repeat of their 2022 midterm collapse
CNN
New York Democrats are betting on what most describe as a revitalized political project to help the state deliver Democratic majority-makers to the House next year.
A hollowed-out state party apparatus. An off-kilter campaign by the governor. A botched redistricting plan that squeezed out incumbent House members. New York Democrats offered a wide array of excuses for their disastrous 2022 midterms, when Republicans flipped four seats outside New York City on their way to winning a narrow US House majority. Now, less than two months out from the 2024 general election, the state party, its campaign season allies, chastened candidates and Gov. Kathy Hochul are betting on what most describe as a revitalized political project – a series of them, in fact – to help the state deliver Democratic majority-makers, particularly from suburban districts, to the House next year. Former President Donald Trump’s Wednesday rally on Long Island, in Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito’s district, underscores the high stakes of the New York contests. D’Esposito is one of five New York GOP freshmen facing an onslaught from Democrats determined to claw back suburban voters. In 2022, he defeated Democrat Laura Gillen, flipping a district where Joe Biden would have routed Trump in 2020 under the current lines. Gillen is back for a rematch this year. Reps. Marc Molinaro and Mike Lawler in the Hudson Valley, Nick LaLota on Long Island and Brandon Williams in Central New York are the other Republicans facing tough reelection fights in what is still largely blue state that Kamala Harris is expected to win comfortably. “New York is the reason Democrats lost the House in 2022,” said Pamela Shifman, president of the Democracy Alliance, a liberal group spending big in New York this year. “And it’s going to be the reason we win it back in 2024.”
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