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The last few years, New York has been a bastion for competitive and compelling races in its delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives. The state will likely be watched closely for those once again this year with control of the House up for grabs amid a current thinly divided chamber.
Early voting is ongoing and Primary Election Day is Tuesday. The winners of the primaries will face each other in the November general election. Here are the races in New York state that you’ll want to keep an eye on.
Months ago, it would’ve seemed U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik’s run for governor would be a race to watch. It is now rather the race to replace her in Congress that has the most dynamics and the most fireworks.
Not only is New York’s 21st Congressional District the only open contest in the upstate region this cycle, it is a quintessential primary contest between the major party’s establishment and an outsider insurgent’s campaign, a microcosm of the kind of party politics often seen across the nation in the modern era.
State Assemblyman Robert Smullen has the Republican infrastructure behind him. He’s been endorsed by the state Republican Party, state Conservative Party, fellow members of the state Legislature and various local GOP officials. A retired U.S. Marine Corp. colonel, he also has the government experience, representing parts of Herkimer, Fulton, Montgomery, Oneida and Otsego counties in the state Assembly since 2019.
While the party apparatus is behind Smullen, the most powerful Republican in the country is backing his opponent. President Donald Trump in April endorsed custom sticker company Sticker Mule CEO Robert Constantino. In announcing the endorsement, Trump referenced a large “Vote for Trump” electric sign that Constantino placed on top of a building on Elk Street in Amsterdam, in Montgomery County, during the 2024 campaign. Trump supporters rallied at the scene of the sign during the height of the presidential campaign to show their support.
Trump’s endorsements of GOP candidates have at times been crucial to their campaigns’ success in recent years. How it will play out in the 21st District remains to be seen.
The 21st Congressional District is made up of most of the North Country and parts of the greater Capital Region and Mohawk Valley.
A similar contest is happening on the Democratic side for the northern New York district.
Dairy farmer Blake Gendebien is primarily backed by agricultural groups, local Democratic committees and the Democratic establishment. He enterted the race in December 2024, when a special election for the seat seemed imminent given President Trump’s nomination of Stefanik for ambassador to the United Nations at the time. When that election never took place since Stefanik’s nomination was pulled, Gendebien committed himself to the 2026 contest.
Gendebien is being challenged by businessman Stuart Armoriell. Amoriell is running a largely grassroots campaign to the left of Gendebein and identifies as an “independent Democrat.”
While the 21st Congressional District is one of the most Republican districts in the state, the Democrats see an opportunity based between the headwinds the GOP faces nationally in a midterm year and the battle happening for the Republican nomination and its similarities to the 2009 special election for the seat. In that race, Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava suspended her campaign at the last minute and endorsed Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman after criticism from Tea Party activists who argued she was too moderate. Democrat Bill Owens ultimately won the seat and held it until he decided not to run for reelection in 2014. The comparison has given Democrats some hope that if Constantino wins the Republican primary and Smullen remains in the race on the Conservative Party line, a similar outcome could be possible.
From a heavily Republican district and two candidates in each party’s primary, to a swing district and a crowded field. The Democratic race to challenge Republican Rep. Mike Lawler in the 17th District was always going to be one to watch.
Hoping to be the nominee are five candidates — John Cappello, an Air Force veteran who grew up in Rockland County; Cait Conley, a West Point graduate who served in Special Operations; Beth Davidson, a Rockland County legislator; Effie Phillips-Staley, a Tarrytown village trustee; and Mike Sacks, a lawyer-turned-television reporter.
Cook Political Report, the independent nonpartisan index and analysis group, has rated the district as one of the few “tossup” races in November in the partisan fight for control of the House, meaning whoever wins the Democratic primary, the race will be on both parties’ radar.
Lawler’s been a top target for Democrats since he is running for a third term in one of only three districts nationwide represented by a Republican that Democrat Kamala Harris won in 2024, according to an analysis by Sabato’s Crystal Ball. But since he unseated Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Sean Patrick Maloney in 2022, Lawler has proved to have staying power in the blue district, winning in 2024 by four points. President Trump joined Lawler in the district for an economic rally last month.
The 17th District is made up of Westchester, Rockland, Putnam and southern Dutchess counties.
From Democrats taking on a Republican incumbent in the 17th to Republicans taking on the Democratic incumbent in the neighboring 19th.
Much like the GOP primary in the 21st District, the GOP primary in the 19th is between a sitting state lawmaker and a businessman. State Sen. Peter Oberacker and Alex Portelli, a political newcomer and entrepreneur, are the Republicans hoping to win the nomination to challenge freshman Democratic Rep. Josh Riley.
Oberacker has spent five years as a state senator, representing the 51st Senate District, and previously served in town and county government. Portelli grew up in Albany and currently owns a timber farm in Otsego County.
Rep. Riley is running for a second term in the district that has seen very close races in the last few cycles. Riley unseated former Rep. Marc Molinaro in 2024 by 2.3 points after losing to Molinaro in 2022 by 1.6 points. Cook Political Report currently rates the district as “lean Democrat” for the general election.
The sprawling district stretches from Rensselaer and Columbia counties in the east to Tompkins County, and includes the cities of Binghamton and Ithaca.
Early voting runs through Sunday, June 21. Primary Election Day is Tuesday, June 23.
See the races that’ll be on your ballot with our Voter Guide.
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