KINGSTON – Congressman Pat Ryan (D, NY-18) sailed to a comfortable victory Tuesday, defending his seat in the 18th Congressional District by defeating his challenger, Republican businesswoman Jackie Auringer.
With 95% of the votes in, Ryan was at 63% with nearly 169-thousand votes. Auringer, a newcomer to politics, was at 37% with just over 99-thousand votes.
At the Assembly in historic Uptown Kingston – the same building where Ryan attended grade school – the congressman spoke to hundreds of supporters at a watch party hosted by local democrats. He accepted his victory and acknowledged that the democratic wins across the country have set a new trajectory for America.
“The people just sent a resounding message, and it’s just like we did, I would argue, 250 years ago,” said Ryan. “We asserted that we have the power to determine our future—not a king or a president ore a trillionaire.”
Ryan, a Kingston native and West Point graduate, who served two tours in Iraq, campaigned on a platform that focused largely on undoing the federal policies of the Trump Administration.
In his victory speech, the congressman once again outlined a list of priorities for his third term, which includes firing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, keeping ICE out of the Hudson Valley, rolling back President Trump’s tariffs, ending the war in Iran and reversing the federal government’s devastating cuts to healthcare.
“We’ve gotten awfully good at defense. We’ve defended our values. We’ve defended what it really means to be a patriot, to be an American on a moral level,” said Ryan. “I’m so sick of being on defense. So, starting tonight, with this win and a lot of other wins to come, we are going on offense on behalf of the American people.”
Throughout the evening, attendees cheered as Democratic candidates in the region and across the country turned both the House and the Senate blue.
Ryan served as Ulster County executive from 2019 until 2022, when he was first elected to Congress.
The 18th Congressional District includes Orange and most of Ulster and Dutchess counties, including the cities of Middletown, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie and Kingston.
Ryan will serve a two-year term.
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