The candidates duking it out in one of the most hotly contested upstate districts are putting some distance between themselves and the top of their tickets.
Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) and Republican opponent Alison Esposito were asked at a forum in Ulster County on Tuesday to “convince” the crowd why their party’s presidential candidate was the right pick – and their immediate answers made virtually no mention of Dem Vice President Kamala Harris or GOP former President Donald Trump.
“I’m not here to talk about the presidential race. I’m here to talk about who is going to represent Ulster, Dutchess and Orange counties and the 800,000 people I’m proud to represent,” Ryan responded.
The freshman rep, West Point grad and former Ulster County executive was quick to tout having been the first member of Congress from New York to call on President Biden to drop his re-election bid.
“I think we need a representative who isn’t going to automatically come up here and knee-jerk say, ‘I’m going to 100% support everything my party or my town or my president does,’ ” Ryan continued.
Esposito, a former NYPD deputy inspector and ex-running mate to 2022 GOP gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin, also dodged the question and instead when straight into bashing Ryan for highlighting concerns about Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol.
“He wants to say ‘existential threat’ and call Donald Trump all of these things, that’s fine, but it’s not true,” Esposito said of her opponent.
“And you can look at the far-left ticket of Tim Waltz and Kamala Harris, and you can see the absolute ridiculous notion that he is putting forward,” she continued of Ryan.
Ryan and Esposito have made clear they are backing their party’s presidential candidates, but their answers Tuesday supported the notion that they, as well as many of the candidates in New York’s competitive battleground districts, are attempting to run as moderates.
“I am not a traditional career politician and I don’t have a history of it. So he doesn’t know what to make of me,” Esposito told The Post after the forum, referring to Ryan.
“He needs to make this election about MAGA, Trump, abortion, existential threat,” she said.
The 18th Congressional District is rated by the non-partisan Cook Political Report as “lean Democrat.”
Ryan carried the seat in 2022 with 50.6% of the vote when he faced off against Republican Assemblyman Colin Schmitt. That same year, Zeldin and Esposito carried the district in their bid for governor and lieutenant governor with 50.9% of the vote.