NEWBURGH – Republican Alison Esposito, a former running mate of Lee Zeldin during his unsuccessful bid against Kathy Hochul in the most recent state gubernatorial race, kick-off her candidacy in Newburgh Thursday for the District 18 seat in the House of Representatives against incumbent Democrat Pat Ryan.
Esposito left her 25-year career with NYPD to become Zeldin’s running mate. In 2022, Zeldin and Esposito performed better than anticipated and won the 18th Congressional District against Hochul and her running mate, Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado.
“I believe I can be a voice for the people,” said Esposito, who grew up and still lives in Highland Mills. “I believe the current representative, Pat Ryan, is not the voice of the people. Pat Ryan likes to talk a moderate game, but he votes along party lines. And he’s just as extremist in some of his stances as the far left as we are seeing in Washington. I believe we need common sense back in office.”
Esposito wants the nation to be energy independent, and she said the state’s shale deposits help New York do that.
“(New York state) can be exporting energy,” she said.
Esposito, whose father was also a police officer, said he taught her to care for people.
“He instilled early on the notion, the core value if you will, that people who cannot protect themselves, deserve to be protected,” she said.
But the climate in the police department changed to a dangerous political narrative, a false media narrative that, she said, turned officers into “public enemy number one.”
“They gave the streets back the criminals,” she said. “I realized I had to do more.”
