Josh Riley hauls in $759,000 in first quarter of 2025

Freshman Rep. Josh Riley exclusively shared with City & State he’s raised more than $759,000 in the first quarter of 2025 and has more than $681,000 cash on hand. Over the entirety of the cycle, the Endicott Democrat reports a $847,000 haul as Republicans are still in the process of settling upon a challenger for the upcoming midterm elections following former Rep. Marc Molinaro’s narrow loss last fall.

The 19th Congressional District Riley represents has proven to be one of the most expensive to campaign in across the country, owing to its sprawling geography and multiple television markets. A common refrain for Riley, as he’s made successive bids for the seat, is his refusal to take corporate political action committee money and he told City & State that hasn’t changed.

“The Republican Party put me on their top targets list. I'm the only Democrat in upstate New York who's on that list, so I'm sure they're going to recruit someone to run against me,” he said. “But the way I'm thinking about it is I need to continue to do the job well, deliver results for my constituents, and we'll just let the politics follow.”

And Riley has balked at the renewed political interest from Elon Musk, currently spearheading a reduction of government spending and services as he splashes cash in local and Congressional races across the country.

“What he cares about is his own wealth and his own power, and he's running around trying to close down Social Security offices and rip the rug out from underneath farmers,” Riley said. He isn’t alone in that sentiment; state lawmakers in upstate New York and Manhattan are developing their own proposals to rebuke the world's richest man on earth. 

In Congress, Democrats like Riley are mostly helpless other than to watch as Republicans haggle over the federal budget. His colleagues in New York like U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, have been quick to throw the issue back on members of Congress like Rep. Mike Lawler, who has his own red lines in negotiations. While the two view the progress of negotiations in starkly different terms, Riley as bad for upstate and Lawler as necessary to remove bloat, the pair did share the unique experience of winning a campaign with an infant in tow. 

“I sometimes see them (my children) running around on the floor of the House, and I think how different their childhood is than mine, for better or worse,” Riley said.”But you know, having a young family, it just gives you a really important perspective in this work.”