Democrats have flipped two Republican-held districts in closely watched House races in New York.
ABC News reports that Democratic candidate Laura Gillen is the projected winner in New York’s 4th Congressional District. As of 10:45 p.m. on Thursday, with 94% of the expected vote reporting, Gillen leads with 51% of the vote, while her Republican opponent, Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, follows with 49%.
D’Esposito conceded earlier on Thursday. He had previously won against Gillen in 2022 by 4 points, when he flipped the Long Island-based district held previously by retiring Dem. Rep. Kathleen Rice. In 2020, Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in the same district by over 14 percentage points.
Separately, ABC News reports that Democratic candidate Josh Riley is the projected winner in New York’s 19th Congressional District. As of 10:45 p.m. Thursday, with 95% of the expected vote reporting, Riley leads with 51% of the vote, while GOP incumbent Rep. Marcus Molinaro follows with 49% of the vote.
In 2022, Molinaro defeated Riley by less than 3 percentage points, and Biden won the district in 2020 by around 5 percentage points. Over $40 million was spent by the candidates or groups supporting them in this race, according to an analysis by OpenSecrets.
Cumulatively throughout 2024, Democrats have now flipped 3 of the 4 swing seats they lost in 2022 in New York – the third being New York’s 3rd Congressional district, which Rep. Tom Suozzi won in a special election in February and held onto in the general election.
ABC News reports that incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Lawler is projected to hold onto the fourth, New York’s 17th District.
-ABC News' Emily Chang, Oren Oppenheim and Brittany Shepherd