For Congress: Cobb, Delgado, Tonko
Among the most telling races for Congress nationally this year, one may turn out to be New York’s 21st Congressional District. There, voters will decide between a moderate challenger with a record of community and public service and an incumbent who has put her loyalty to President Donald Trump above all, even the work she was elected to do.
We strongly endorse Tedra Cobb, D-canton, whose resume includes founding the St. Lawrence Health Initiative and serving on the St. Lawrence County Legislature. Her work on ethics and government accountability earned her a seat, too, on the New York State Committee on Open Government.
Ms. Cobb is committed to ensuring people have continued access to affordable health care and supports a public option as an alternative, not a replacement, for private insurance. She would protect Social Security and Medicare, not privatize them. She favors commonsense gun regulations that most Americans support — such as universal background checks and red flag laws.
She wants to enhance loan forgiveness programs that encourage public service in teaching and health care, invest in universal pre-k, promote job training and retraining in community colleges, expand broadband and cell service in the district, and secure funding to deal with the health and economic consequences of the pandemic.
The three-term incumbent, Rep.
Elise Stefanik, R- Schuylerville, once a bright and promising newcomer, has lost her way in Washington, D.C. She is now more a surrogate for a divisive president than a representative of her constituents.
Ms. Stefanik was one of Mr. Trump’s staunchest defenders when he was impeached for trying to extort a political favor from the president of Ukraine by delaying vital military aid that had been approved by Congress. She and her colleagues tried to turn impeachment into a sideshow, boycotting Intelligence Committee meetings on the fabricated excuse of concerns about security. They’re still using that ploy to blow off meetings on Qanon — a Trump-friendly conspiracy movement identified by the FBI as a terror threat — and on the spread of disinformation on the internet.
This blind loyalty has real consequences for her district. Ms. Stefanik went along with tax cuts that went largely to the wealthy and big corporations, and stands by a president who is gutting environmental protections that have helped reduce the damage done to the Adirondacks by acid rain. She has been mute on her party’s inaction on a new stimulus package, even as the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic hurts her district’s residents, businesses and local governments. She voted repeatedly to repeal the Affordable Care Act with no real plan to replace it. She ignored Mr. Trump’s misappropriation of military funds for a border wall.
It’s time the 21st Congressional District has a representative who truly represents it — as Ms. Cobb would.
19th Congressional District
In his freshman term, Rep. Antonio Delgado, D-rhinebeck, has distinguished himself as one of Congress’ more active and bipartisan members. Legislation he introduced that became law included a bill to make it easier for farmers to reorganize debt under Chapter 12 bankruptcy, and the Small Business Repayment Relief Act that was part of the broader CARES Act and which provided $17 billion in small business loan repayment relief. He has sponsored or cosponsored legislation to create a public health care option, promote green energy jobs, help veterans and military widows, and address opioid addiction and PFAS contamination.
After winning the seat narrowly in 2018, he appears to face less of a challenge this year from Republican Kyle Van de Water, Green candidate Steve Greenfield and Libertarian contender Victoria Alexander.
Mr. Delgado deserves another term.
20th Congressional District
Rep. Paul Tonko, D-amsterdam, has been a diligent member of Congress for six terms, immersed in constituent service and approaching issues with the common sense and professionalism of an engineer, which is his background. He has been a voice against the Trump administration’s attacks on scientific integrity in government. As chair of the Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change, he drafted the CLEAN Future Act, which charts a path to achieve 100 percent clean energy by 2050. He has pushed for stronger limousine safety rules and funding for mental health and addiction treatment. And he worked across the aisle to pass the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act to create uniform national standard on medication and racetrack safety standards.
Mr. Tonko is challenged by Republican Liz Lemery Joy, who has adopted an anti-immigrant, anti-choice Trumpian platform that reduces the current debate over racial bias and inequities in our criminal justice system to an oversimplified call for law and order. She is campaigning disingenuously against criminal justice reforms passed by the New York Legislature, in which members of Congress have no role, and offers arming women as an answer to domestic violence.
It’s Mr. Tonko’s thoughtful, bipartisan approach to the job that earns our endorsement for another term.