NY-19: Gareth Rhodes, a former aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, is out with a TV spot ahead of next week's very crowded and expensive Democratic primary to take on GOP Rep. John Faso. The spot features a local high school student named Althea telling the audience how she led a walk out for gun reform.
Althea says that school shootings have become a reality rather than an anomaly, but Faso "told me that I was wasting valuable academic time." Althea then says that Rhodes actually listened to her, and she concludes by asking, "I'm 16 and I can't vote yet, but I'm asking you to vote for Gareth Rhodes for me, because our lives are at stake."
National Democrats will likely work hard to flip this upstate seat, but it's anyone's guess who will emerge with the nomination on Tuesday. The top spender from April 1 to June 6 (which the FEC defines as the pre-primary period) was former Army intelligence officer Pat Ryan, who outspent attorney Antonio Delgado $774,000 to $744,000; just behind them was businessman Brian Flynn, who deployed $714,000.
Rhodes himself spent a smaller $287,000 during this time, while attorney and deacon David Clegg expended $114,000. Former diplomat Jeff Beals spent $77,000 while U.S. Agency for International Development official Erin Collier dropped just $71,000; however, Collier may benefit from being the only woman in this seven-person field.