Who’s running in NY-18?

New York’s 18th Congressional District – which encompasses parts of Orange, Ulster and Dutchess counties – is represented by Democratic Rep. Patrick Ryan. He’s running for reelection again, but Republicans are eyeing the seat as part of their efforts to maintain a hold over the U.S. House of Representatives. The 18th District is rated lean Democratic by Cook Political Report, and the district is considered a swing race by Democratic organization Swing Left and the state’s own Democratic delegation. The seat has been held by Democrats for a while, but it’s bordered by red districts and is receiving special attention from both parties. Running on the Republican side is Hawaii-born Lovelynn Gwinn, a New York real estate broker and investor who made a long shot challenge to Rep. Adriano Espaillat in 2020. There’s still time for more people to announce their candidacy, though. Here is a breakdown of the candidates running in the 2024 race to represent New York’s 18th Congressional District.

Rep. Pat Ryan

Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan is running for a second term in the 18th District, but it’s his third election for Congress. He won in November 2022 after the district was altered during redistricting. In August 2022, Ryan also won a special election for the pre-redistricting version of the 19th Congressional District, after former Rep. Antonio Delgado resigned to become the state’s lieutenant governor. Ryan’s win against Republican Marc Molinaro was credited in part to Ryan’s focus on abortion rights. Ryan held the 19th District seat for only a few months before taking over his current district for a full term, which will come to a close at the end of next year. In 2018, Ryan finished second in a wide open Democratic primary for the 19th District, losing to Delgado in a race where six candidates got more than 10% of the vote.

He is a vice-ranking member of the Armed Services Committee and a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He has called for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide assistance for Orange County residents who suffered from significant flooding earlier this summer. Ryan, an Iraq War veteran and the first West Point graduate to be elected to the House, is a lifelong Hudson Valley native and was the Ulster County executive prior to joining Congress.

Lovelynn Gwinn

In 2020, Republican Lovelynn Gwinn ran for the 13th Congressional District, which includes northern Manhattan, of which she was a decadeslong resident. She was uncontested in the Republican primary and lost to longtime Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat. Gwinn’s campaign website stated that her main goals, if elected, would be to pass legislation to help small businesses, crack down on illegal immigration, encourage more students to attend vocational schools and eliminate federal income taxes. Outside of politics, Gwinn is a real estate broker and a former in-house travel agent for Warner Music Group.