VoterLens
College of William and Mary—B.A.; Harvard University—J.D.
Data last updated 10/27/2026
Josh Riley served as a staffer at the U.S. Department of Labor, clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and worked for U.S. Senator Al Franken from 2011 to 2014. He also worked as a lawyer in private practice before being elected to the U.S. House for New York's 19th Congressional District in 2024.
Committee Assignments: House Committee on Agriculture · House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
Josh Riley frames healthcare as a civil right and emphasizes lowering patient costs, expanding Medicare benefits, reducing prescription-drug prices, strengthening rural healthcare access, and protecting reproductive healthcare decisions. His healthcare-related record includes co-sponsoring bills on patient protections, cancer screening, autism caregiver training, home health access, and early detection coverage.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Riley co-sponsored health legislation titled the Patients First Act of 2026, aligning with a patient-centered healthcare agenda.
SourceRiley co-sponsored legislation aimed at improving access to cancer screening and prevention services.
SourceRiley co-sponsored legislation focused on supporting families and caregivers of people with autism through health-related services and training.
SourceRiley co-sponsored legislation intended to expand or improve Medicare beneficiaries’ access to home health services.
SourceRiley says he supports expanding access to quality healthcare, lowering prescription-drug costs, expanding Medicare dental, vision, and hearing benefits, strengthening rural hospitals, and improving telehealth access.
SourceJosh Riley emphasizes lowering costs for working families, cutting middle-class taxes, investing in Upstate manufacturing and union jobs, and holding utilities and corporations accountable for price hikes. His Economy & Jobs record also includes proposed bills on utility costs, price gouging, rural transportation, childcare finance, and farm/environmental investment.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Riley proposed making state-mandated utility fees tax deductible to lower monthly energy costs for households.
SourceRiley proposed legislation aimed at banning corporate price gouging as part of his broader effort to lower costs for working families.
SourceRiley proposed legislation focused on rural transportation and public works, an infrastructure area tied to local economic access and job connectivity.
SourceRiley proposed legislation addressing private equity involvement in childcare, aligning with his stated focus on making childcare more affordable so parents can work.
SourceRiley supports revitalizing Upstate New York’s economy through American manufacturing investments, including batteries, semiconductors, solar panels, and other products, while standing up to unfair trade practices.
SourceJosh Riley presents immigration as a border-security and legal-immigration issue: he supports more border agents, more immigration judges, law-enforcement resources, and faster asylum processing while saying reforms should uphold both the law and American values. He also opposes indiscriminate mass deportation approaches and supports legal immigration.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Riley proposed legislation directing Department of Energy research and testing of technologies to detect fentanyl vapor or particles for rapid screening at U.S. borders, prisons, the mails, and related settings.
SourceRiley says he supports hiring new border agents and ensuring law enforcement has resources to secure the border and deter illegal immigration.
SourceRiley says he supports hiring more immigration judges so asylum claims can be processed quickly, fairly, and accurately.
SourceRiley argues that the U.S. should invest in a secure border, responsible law enforcement, due process, and an immigration system that can quickly and fairly process claims rather than pursuing indiscriminate mass deportation.
SourceThe Associated Press reported that Riley campaigned on stronger border controls while also emphasizing abortion rights in his 2024 race.
SourceJosh Riley’s Climate & Energy record centers on lowering utility and energy costs while supporting clean energy and environmental protection. He has proposed bills aimed at utility accountability, smart-meter privacy, data-center grid-cost fairness, price-gouging enforcement, and keeping utility infrastructure under local ownership, while public environmental groups describe him as supportive of a clean-energy transition and Inflation Reduction Act clean-energy benefits.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Riley proposed legislation in the Energy area focused on utility accountability amid concerns about high utility bills.
SourceRiley proposed an Energy bill addressing privacy protections for smart-meter data.
SourceRiley proposed legislation to prevent utilities from forcing customers to pay for grid upgrades, transmission lines, and generation needed to power data centers.
SourceRiley proposed an Energy bill aimed at addressing price gouging in energy markets.
SourceRiley proposed Energy legislation focused on keeping utility or energy infrastructure decisions and benefits local.
SourceJosh Riley presents education as a public-school and workforce-opportunity issue, emphasizing rural STEM teacher recruitment, arts and music, school mental-health staffing, career and technical education, and opposition to cuts or dismantling of the Department of Education. In Congress, he sponsored the Boosting the Rural STEM Pipeline Act to expand rural access to trained STEM teachers.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Riley sponsored legislation to strengthen the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program by removing cost-sharing barriers so rural colleges can train more STEM teachers for high-need school districts.
SourceRiley says he supports recruiting and training science and math teachers, expanding arts and music programming, hiring more school counselors and mental-health professionals, protecting the Department of Education, and promoting CTE pathways.
SourceRiley requested community project funding to help BTBOCES expand its LPN training program through a Southern Tier Regional School of Practical Nursing serving rural workforce needs.
SourceRiley requested FY27 community project funding for hands-on lineworker training at SUNY Delhi and modernization of Questar III BOCES skilled-trades facilities, including electrical, welding, and plumbing training spaces.
SourceRiley’s office promotes the Congressional App Challenge for middle- and high-school students as a STEM competition in New York’s 19th District.
SourceJosh Riley’s public-safety platform emphasizes funding law enforcement and first responders, opposing efforts to “defund the police,” changing New York’s cashless bail rules to give judges more discretion for repeat and violent offenders, and combating fentanyl through interdiction technology and treatment. His record also includes sponsoring fentanyl-detection legislation and co-sponsoring protections for public service workers.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Riley sponsored legislation directing the Department of Energy to coordinate research, development, testing, and evaluation of new technologies to detect fentanyl vapor or particles in settings such as the mail, prisons, and U.S. borders.
SourceRiley co-sponsored legislation focused on protecting public service workers, a workforce category that includes roles relevant to public safety and government services.
SourceRiley says he is adamantly opposed to “defund the police” proposals and argues public safety requires more resources for law enforcement and first responders, including police equipment and local public-safety facilities.
SourceRiley supports changing New York’s cashless bail policy to give judges more discretion and clearer criteria to keep repeat and violent offenders off the streets.
SourceRiley supports hiring new border agents and ensuring law enforcement has the resources needed to secure the border and stop or deter illegal immigration.
SourceBallotpedia
https://ballotpedia.org/New_York%27s_19th_Congressional_District_election%2C_2026Fetched: biography, education, professional background
U.S. House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives
https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/36507225789Fetched: biography, age, hometown, education, professional background
US Congressman Josh Riley
https://riley.house.gov/about/Fetched: biography, hometown, professional background
US Congressman Josh Riley
https://riley.house.gov/2025/01/14/congressman-josh-riley-appointed-agriculture-committee-and-science-technology/Fetched: committee assignments
FEC API
https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/candidate/H8NY22177/totals/Fetched: totalRaised, totalSpent, cashOnHand
OpenWatchdog
https://www.openwatchdog.com/member/R000622Fetched: partyAlignment, missedVotes, keyVotes
OpenSecrets
https://www.opensecrets.org/profiles/josh-riley/us_congress/summary?cid=N00041154&cycle=2026Fetched: campaignFinance
Josh Riley for Congress Endorsements
https://joshrileyforcongress.com/endorsements/Fetched: endorsements
New York League of Conservation Voters
https://www.nylcv.org/candidate/josh-riley/Fetched: endorsements, ratings
Turning Point Action Scorecard
https://www.tpaction.com/scorecard/legislators/joshrileyFetched: ratings
Reproductive Freedom for All Congressional Record
https://reproductivefreedomforall.org/lawmaker/josh-riley/Fetched: ratings
The Freedom Index Congressional Scorecard
https://thefreedomindex.org/legislator/r000622/votes/scorecard-119-1/pdf/scb/Fetched: ratings
Josh Riley for Congress Issues Page
https://joshrileyforcongress.com/policy-positions/Fetched: issuePositions
US Congressman Josh Riley Bringing Down Costs Page
https://riley.house.gov/priorities/bringing-down-costs/Fetched: issuePositions
Josh Riley for Congress Issues
https://joshrileyforcongress.com/policy-positions/Fetched: issuePositions
Congress.gov
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/10598Fetched: legislativeRecords
Josh Riley for Congress | Issues
https://joshrileyforcongress.com/policy-positions/Fetched: issuePositions
WSKG
https://www.wskg.org/2026-10-22/new-york-congressional-district-19-josh-riley-v-peter-oberackerFetched: issuePositions
Friends of the Earth Action
https://foeaction.org/news/josh-riley-house-race-ny/Fetched: issuePositions
Congressman Josh Riley Press Release
https://riley.house.gov/2025/12/02/riley-introduces-bipartisan-bill-to-recruit-stem-teachers-to-rural-schools-in-upstate-new-york/Fetched: issuePositions
Congressman Josh Riley FY26 Community Project Funding
https://riley.house.gov/services/fy26-community-project-funding/Fetched: issuePositions
Congressman Josh Riley FY27 Community Project Funding
https://riley.house.gov/services/fy27-community-project-funding/Fetched: issuePositions
Congressman Josh Riley Congressional App Challenge
https://riley.house.gov/services/student-resources/services-congressional-app-challenge/Fetched: issuePositions
FactCheck.org
https://www.factcheck.org/2022/10/super-pac-ads-distort-new-york-congressional-candidates-help-not-handcuffs-quote/Fetched: issuePositions