Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan and Republican Alison Esposito engaged in a spirited debate hosted by Spectrum News 1 Wednesday evening featuring issues hotly contested on the federal level that are also central to the Hudson Valley congressional district both want to represent.
With immigration one of the top issues in this year’s elections and a top-of-mind issue for New York voters since the migrant crisis took hold in the spring of 2023, Esposito said the country needs to secure the southern border, reinstate the Remain in Mexico policy and pass legal lawful immigration reform.
“There’s billions of dollars going to fund, to feed, to clothe, to house, to care for illegal immigrants. And I believe we need a secure southern border. We need to work on immigration reform, but we need a secure southern border and we need to that right away,” Esposito said.
Ryan, who’s been in Congress since 2022, said there’s a difference between pointing out a problem and working to fix it.
“I’ve been one of a very small number, unfortunately, of Democrats willing to stand up to and call on and eventually call out President Biden for not doing enough to secure our border,” Ryan said. “Thankfully, he listened. We’ve seen the numbers come down in terms of folks crossing the southern border, but there’s more work to do.”
Ryan called out former President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans for not supporting the Senate-negotiated immigration bill earlier this year. Esposito said that bill was “dead on arrival” in the House.
On the economy and affordability, Esposito said cutting regulations, gaining energy independence and ending the SALT cap are her priorities. Ryan rsaid that it was Republicans who capped SALT in their landmark tax legislation in 2017. Esposito said Ryan has had opportunities since then to end the cap and hasn’t engaged in them.
In the race for president, Ryan was asked about his decision in being the first New York Democratic member of Congress to ask President Joe Biden to end his reelection campaign earlier this summer.
“At that time, after a really concerning debate at the end of June, I was hearing from constituents across the district that they were concerned about two things: one, the existential threat that Donald Trump poses to our democracy, and we saw this a few years ago on Jan. 6, and two, the ability for Joe Biden to prosecute that case fully and forcefully against Donald Trump,” Ryan said.
Esposito said that kind of rhetoric is “what got Donald Trump shot and shot at,” and accused the Democrats of usurping primary voters who voted for Biden to be the nominee.
“The reason wasn’t patriotism. The reason was he saw he was going to lose an election,” Esposito said. “They saw that Donald Trump was going to be back in the White House and they couldn’t handle that. So he called for him to step down.”
Esposito said Trump has given her no reason to doubt his mental acuity, but said she believes that Trump lost the election in 2020 despite the former president’s unfounded claims otherwise.
Regarding the issue of abortion, Esposito said she would not advocate for a federal abortion ban.
“It was returned to the states and now the states can vote on it. I am somebody who believes in less government, not more. Local control. You vote for our elected officials in the states, and that’s how the laws happen,” Esposito said.
Ryan said the core question is about freedom.
“Two years ago, the Supreme Court, thanks to Donald Trump who has literally bragged about this, ripped away a fundamental freedom from half of this country,” Ryan said.
The candidates also discussed public safety, the wars in Ukraine and Israel and climate change.
The 18th Congressional District is made up of parts of Orange, Dutchess and Ulster counties, and includes the cities of Poughkeepsie and Kingston.
Early voting in New York begins Saturday, Oct. 26 and runs through Sunday, Nov. 3. Election Day is Nov. 5.
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