MID-HUDSON – Election time advertising can be reduced to name calling, suggestions of wrong-doing, and in some cases, downright lies about opponents.
Two just concluded congressional races in the Hudson Valley saw Republicans taking swipes at their Democratic opponents.
In the new 18th District, the winner, Democrat Patrick Ryan, was the brunt of vicious ads. He is a West Point graduate and served two combat tours in Iraq, yet his Republican opponent, State Assemblyman Colin Schmitt, ran ads as the campaign wound down showed a picture of Ryan next to a photo of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who continues his unprovoked attack on Ukraine.
Ryan’s campaign was conducted on a positive note.
“Politics is particularly nasty right now and what I tried to do both in our campaign and certainly in Congress, answer the division and cynicism and the nastiness with positivity, with trying to continue to inspire reason for people to be hopeful, reason for people to think about each other, just on a human level, be nice to each other, to love each other,” he told Mid-Hudson News.
In the new 17th Congressional District, Democratic incumbent Sean Patrick Maloney fell victim to Republican State Assemblyman Michael Lawler’s campaign claiming the incumbent was anti-law enforcement, when in fact, he has delivered millions of dollars during his decade in the House to area police and fire departments.
