Gareth Rhodes

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Gareth Rhodes

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

June 26, 2018

Contact

Campaign website

Personal website

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Gareth Rhodes (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent New York's 19th Congressional District. He lost in the Democratic primary on June 26, 2018.

Elections

2018

See also: New York's 19th Congressional District election, 2018

General election

General election for U.S. House New York District 19

Antonio Delgado defeated incumbent John Faso, Steven Greenfield, and Diane Neal in the general election for U.S. House New York District 19 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Antonio Delgado (D)	51.4	147,873
		John Faso (R)	46.2	132,873
		Steven Greenfield (G)	1.5	4,313
		Diane Neal (Independent)	1.0	2,835

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 287,894 (100.00% precincts reporting)
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Victoria Alexander (L)
• Chad McEvoy (Women's Equality Party)
• Dal LaMagna (Independent)
• Luisa Parker (Independent)
• Bob Cohen (Working Families Party)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House New York District 19

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. House New York District 19 on June 26, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Antonio Delgado	22.1	8,576
		Pat Ryan	17.9	6,941
		Gareth Rhodes	17.8	6,890
		Brian Flynn	13.5	5,245
		Jeff Beals	12.9	4,991
		David Clegg	11.0	4,257
		Erin Collier	4.9	1,908

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 38,808
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House New York District 19

Incumbent John Faso advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House New York District 19 on June 26, 2018.

		Candidate
✔		John Faso

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.
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Green primary election

Green primary for U.S. House New York District 19

Steven Greenfield advanced from the Green primary for U.S. House New York District 19 on June 26, 2018.

		Candidate
✔		Steven Greenfield

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Working Families Party primary election

Working Families Party primary for U.S. House New York District 19

Bob Cohen advanced from the Working Families Party primary for U.S. House New York District 19 on June 26, 2018.

		Candidate
✔		Bob Cohen

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Campaign themes

2018

“	CREATING JOBS IN UPSTATE NEW YORK Gareth was six years old when IBM left Kingston, shuttering a plant that once employed more than 7,000 workers. While the Hudson Valley and Catskill region’s economy has come a long way since those tough days, we have to keep investing in our people. Unemployment rates might be low, but that's because people all across our district are working two or three jobs just to stay afloat. There are thousands of skilled jobs in our region that go unfilled because we don't have workers with the right training. And too often, job training programs simply don't lead to good-paying work. And it's past time to prioritize and fund programs that lead to an actual job — not just a piece of paper — by increasing funding and encouraging employers to get some skin in the game. ​ Gareth will fight tenaciously for federal funding to expand the resources of the many universities and colleges here in the community. After working for a small water well drilling business here in the Hudson Valley, Gareth understands the burdens facing small business owners and he will fight to cut the red tape that hurts economic growth. We have to generate type of quality jobs that help keep our young people in Upstate New York and help families move into the middle class. Gareth will work to attract new businesses to invest in the Hudson Valley and create good paying jobs for our neighbors and young people. Gareth will fight for a decent living wage for all Americans and for equal pay for equal work. PROTECTING OUR BEAUTIFUL ENVIRONMENT Gareth has climbed every peak in the Catskill Mountains and is outraged by President Trump and the GOP’s plan to gut the EPA and allow power plants to pollute our skies. Gareth will stand up for our environment and will fight to repeal the law that the GOP Congress passed this year to allow coal waste to be dumped into our streams. Gareth will work to ensure the United States honors its obligations under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. PROTECTING HEALTH CARE & THE SOCIAL SAFETY NET Health care should be a right, not a privilege. Here in the United States, we spend more on health care than any other wealthy country, but still have some of the worst health outcomes. Gareth believes we need a single-payer healthcare system that works for all Americans, and is committed to fighting for affordable, quality health care for all, especially the 29 million Americans without insurance and the millions more who are still under insured. He will vigorously oppose any effort to allow insurance companies to discriminate against Americans with pre-existing conditions or to institute premium increases for seniors and the most vulnerable members of our community. Gareth will fight to protect Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security from the radical conservatives in Congress who want to eviscerate the social safety net that working class Americans have relied upon for years. As Republicans try to defund Planned Parenthood, Gareth will stand up to protect a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions. And to ensure that pregnancy, domestic violence, or just being a woman aren't seen as "pre-existing conditions" in the eyes of our health care system. Additionally, Gareth will work to secure more federal funding to combat the heroin and prescription drug epidemic that has taken a tremendous toll on our communities. He'll fight for investments in prevention and to expand access to treatment and rehabilitation. He'll also work to ensure we eradicate this problem at its root, by cracking down on the individuals and corporations who are fueling and profiting from this crisis. INVESTING IN OUR SCHOOLS AND OUR STUDENTS A product of public high school and college, Gareth believes in fighting to make sure our public education system remains an accessible and fully-funded pipeline to the American dream. Gareth’s sister and brother-in-law are teachers, and he will stand up to those who want to defund our public schools and demonize hard working teachers. Our children will be the ones who will suffer as Trump and out-of-touch billionaires like Betsy DeVos seek to privatize public education. On issues like pre-K , after school programs, and teacher training, Gareth will fight for the essential programs that help lift our children and our communities up. In addition to ensuring our public school systems can continue to be the great equalizers across income brackets and zip codes, we must work to address the skyrocketing cost of secondary education. The cost of attending college has risen almost four times faster than median incomes, putting higher education out of reach for most New Yorkers. At nearly $1.4 trillion dollars, student debt is now the second-largest source of household debt after housing, and is continuing to grow. Additionally, due to a variety of factors, this crisis is exacerbated for students of color with some studies showing black B.A. graduates default at five times the rate of white graduates. In Congress, Gareth will work to more stringently regulate the for-profit university sector, to improve degree attainment, promote income-contingent loan repayment options for all students, and to more fully address the particular challenges faced by college students of color. He supports efforts to allow individuals to refinance their student loans, and to expand loan forgiveness programs for those who undertake important public service jobs in under-served communities. FIGHTING INCOME INEQUALITY & DARK MONEY IN POLITICS Gareth believes that the current system favors the very rich over everyone else, and Congress must increase taxes on the wealthy and protect Dodd-Frank to guard against Wall Street greed. Gareth believes we need a Constitutional amendment to get dark money out of politics once and for all and will work on a legislative response to Citizens United. SENSIBLE IMMIGRATION POLICIES Gareth believes we need sensible immigration policies that are true to our American and New York values, and are mindful of the seasonal labor needs of our farmers. Gareth will stand up against President Trump and the GOP’s draconian immigration policies that hurt our apple and vegetable farmers here in the Hudson Valley and their attempt to waste billions of our taxpayer dollars on an unnecessary border wall. NET NEUTRALITY & BROADBAND ​ Gareth strongly believes we must continue to champion a vision of an open internet where all content is treated equally. The recent repeal of net neutrality hinders some of the United States' greatest strengths — our deep, entrepreneurial spirit, our desire to innovate and advance, and our quest for equality. With four companies in control of around 60% of American broadband Internet access, the repeal of net neutrality is a windfall for these huge corporations. And the potential consequences will create an enormous barrier to small and new businesses without the necessary capital to compete with these well-funded corporations. The internet should be America's great equalizer, a place that doesn’t discriminate based on a person’s gender, race, geography, or bank account. It is a place where folks who don’t have a seat at the table can create one of their own. Where innovation and creativity prosper. A competitive online marketplace is essential to America’s continued prosperity, and repealing net neutrality just stacks the deck. Here in NY-19, too many small businesses and households struggle with unreliable or unavailable broadband service, hindering their ability to thrive. Students are unable to enroll in online degrees, it's more difficult for farmers to innovate or grow, and quality of life is drastically affected, all because corporations have been allowed to leave parts of Upstate New York in the dark. If elected, Gareth will work tirelessly to restore net neutrality and to increase access to broadband in our communities. COMMON SENSE GUN SAFETY AND THE SECOND AMENDMENT Gareth supports the Second Amendment and is committed to ensuring we take common sense steps to keep guns away from criminals and those that are dangerous. We can put a stop to the more than 33,000 gun deaths that happen every year — a stop to deadly domestic abuse, suicides, and school shootings. And we can do it in a way that still respects the Second Amendment. The scourge of mass shootings — from Parkland, Sandy Hook, Orlando, and Las Vegas — is a deadly problem in America, and doing nothing is an unacceptable response. It is notable that following the Las Vegas shooting, Congressional Republicans — who have for years blocked common sense gun safety measures — signaled a willingness to look at some steps that we can take, as a society, to protect all Americans from gun violence. But Congress needs to do more than consider these measures. Congress needs to act. ​ Gareth supports common sense measures on which people with a range of views already find agreement: Background checks should be required for any person buying a firearm in any setting. People with documented serious mental illness should not be able to purchase guns. Firearms should be stored safely and securely. Gareth supports the assault weapons ban, and is opposed to legislation that would allow Concealed Carry Reciprocity and allow the sale of fully automatic military-grade rifles. Gareth was born and raised here in NY-19 working on a farm, so he knows and understands that gun ownership is about hunting for some, but a gun is also a tool for our farmers and can provide an added sense of security for folks in our rural communities, particularly in areas with limited cell phone service. And the vast majority of gun owners agree some of these measures are necessary to keep Americans safe. Gareth will protect the constitutional right of law-abiding Americans to own firearms while advocating for and supporting common sense gun safety measures that Congress has refused to enact.	”
—Gareth Rhodes for Congress

See also

• United States House of Representatives
• New York's 19th Congressional District election, 2018
• New York's 19th Congressional District

External links

Suggest a link

• Search Google News for this topic
• Campaign website

Footnotes

[show]

New York's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Kirsten Gillibrand (D)

Chuck Schumer (D)

Representatives

District 1

Nicholas LaLota (R)

District 2

Andrew Garbarino (R)

District 3

Tom Suozzi (D)

District 4

Laura Gillen (D)

District 5

Gregory Meeks (D)

District 6

Grace Meng (D)

District 7

Nydia Velazquez (D)

District 8

Hakeem Jeffries (D)

District 9

Yvette Clarke (D)

District 10

Daniel Goldman (D)

District 11

Nicole Malliotakis (R)

District 12

Jerrold Nadler (D)

District 13

Adriano Espaillat (D)

District 14

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D)

District 15

Ritchie Torres (D)

District 16

George Latimer (D)

District 17

Michael Lawler (R)

District 18

Pat Ryan (D)

District 19

Josh Riley (D)

District 20

Paul Tonko (D)

District 21

Elise Stefanik (R)

District 22

John Mannion (D)

District 23

Nick Langworthy (R)

District 24

Claudia Tenney (R)

District 25

Joseph Morelle (D)

District 26

Tim Kennedy (D)

Democratic Party (21)

Republican Party (7)