{"id":13699,"date":"2025-09-25T09:03:52","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T09:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/democratic-rep-pat-ryan-launches-pac-to-boost-patriotic-candidates\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T09:03:52","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T09:03:52","slug":"democratic-rep-pat-ryan-launches-pac-to-boost-patriotic-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/democratic-rep-pat-ryan-launches-pac-to-boost-patriotic-candidates\/","title":{"rendered":"Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan launches PAC to boost ‘patriotic’ candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

ALBANY, New York \u2014 Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan wants to build a bench of patriot-leaders \u2014 and is planning to raise millions of dollars to do it.<\/p>\n

The two-term House lawmaker is launching a political action committee today to elect candidates with public service backgrounds, including those with experience in the military, teaching or as first responders. The new group, called Patriot PAC, has the goal of raising more than $2 million for candidates this election cycle.<\/p>\n

If successful, the project would help a national Democratic Party struggling to build back support<\/u><\/a> among voters following Republican President Donald Trump\u2019s return and a disastrous 2024 election cycle in which the GOP took total control of the federal government. Ryan wants Democrats to be seen as \u201cthe patriotic party, the party of service.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Republican Party cannot make a claim on it anymore,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cThat creates not only an opportunity, but a need for the Democratic Party to assert what has always been foundational to us, which is that we are that party of selflessness and the common good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s launch is spurring talk among his supporters that Ryan, a West Point grad and Army veteran, is eyeing statewide or federal office in the coming years after representing a purple-hued swing seat in New York\u2019s Hudson Valley since 2022.<\/p>\n

National Democrats are also taking notice of Ryan\u2019s effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who have worn the uniform, who have worked in classrooms or hospitals, know what it means to sacrifice for something greater than themselves,\u201d said Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a retired Army officer and potential presidential candidate, in a statement. \u201cOur country needs more patriots in elected office, at every level.”<\/p>\n

The PAC\u2019s formation arrives at a precarious time for Democrats \u2014 especially in deep blue New York. Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani\u2019s shocking primary win has sharply divided the party as left-leaning Democrats pressure moderates \u2014 including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries \u2014 to endorse. Some centrist Democrats worry Republicans will effectively leverage Mamdani\u2019s hard-left policies against them in crucial races next year.<\/p>\n

Ryan\u2019s new group seeks to sidestep the ideological debate as Democratic voters urge their leaders to take an aggressive approach with Republicans.<\/p>\n

Building broad support in the Empire State\u2019s Democratic Party can be tricky, especially for upstate politicians who are relatively unknown in New York City. Ryan, though, is accustomed to making gutsy moves \u2014 comfortable with campaigning alongside lefty Democrats like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/u><\/a> and working with centrists like Gov. Kathy Hochul<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

A moderate, Ryan endorsed the front-running<\/u><\/a> Mamdani’s mayoral campaign weeks before Hochul \u2014 a nod that included a fiery denunciation of Andrew Cuomo, who is polling consistently in second. Ryan was also among the first Democrats nationally to publicly urge Joe Biden to drop out<\/u><\/a> of the presidential campaign following a disastrous debate performance last year.<\/p>\n

Speaking with Blue Light News this week, Ryan demurred when asked if he has ambitions outside of his House seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really am worried and focused about the moment we\u2019re in where there\u2019s tremendous harm being done to my community, my district, my state and to my country,\u201d he said. \u201cThe only way I know how to stop that is to put forward the best people. Literally, these elections in 2025 are going to be critical, the midterms are going to be important to check a lot of the overreach and the harm being done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan\u2019s PAC plans to endorse 50 New York-based candidates around the state. They include Hempstead Supervisor candidate Joe Scianablo, a Marine veteran and retired NYPD officer. In the Buffalo suburbs, he\u2019s backing Amherst town supervisor candidate Shawn Levin, who serves in the Air National Guard. Another endorsement will go to Jackie Salvatore, a candidate for Columbia County sheriff. (She would become the first woman of color elected sheriff in New York.) And in New York City, he will endorse Council Member Rita Joseph, a former public school teacher.<\/p>\n

Next year during the midterm elections, the PAC plans to endorse 250 candidates across the country.<\/p>\n

The group follows a prior effort Ryan started in 2021 while he was the Ulster County executive to support locally elected Democrats. The PAC\u2019s launch will be followed in October by a statewide tour of New York \u2014 a swing through the Empire State that stands to lift his otherwise low profile with voters outside his House district.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo amount of money will change the fact that any Democrat who accepts funding from an open-borders, Mamdani-supporting radical like Pat Ryan will be tied to those policies and will have to defend them in the general election,\u201d said state GOP spokesperson David Laska.<\/p>\n

Ryan\u2019s effort coincides with a PAC launched earlier this year<\/u><\/a> by Rep. Elise Stefanik, who\u2019s supporting down-ballot GOP candidates in local races and is a likely Republican opponent against Hochul next year.<\/p>\n

Key powerbrokers in New York, eager for a Democrat who represents and understands voters outside of wealthy coastal areas, are closely watching Ryan\u2019s effort to politically branch out.<\/p>\n

\u201cPat Ryan has a future in the Democratic Party,\u201d said John Samuelsen, the president of the Transport Workers Union International. \u201cHe\u2019s an antidote to much of what\u2019s plagued the Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n

Samuelsen, an outspoken labor leader who has feuded with some Democrats he considers insufficiently pro-union, praised Ryan\u2019s support for bills his union pressed federal lawmakers to pass.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an American patriot, he\u2019s an economic populist, he\u2019s 100 percent pro-trade union. That\u2019s the secret sauce for all Democrats,\u201d Samuelsen said.<\/p>\n

Samuelsen, though, did not want to get crosswise with Hochul \u2014 or suggest Ryan should challenge her next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would hate to see him in a confrontation with Kathy Hochul \u2014 there\u2019s room enough for both of them in the Democratic Party,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ryan\u2019s sprawling upstate House seat is a mix of rural communities, small cities and suburban towns, the kind of geographic regions where Democrats nationally have struggled to succeed.<\/p>\n

He drew notice in his first House campaign \u2014 waged in the summer that Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court \u2014 by framing his vocal support for abortion rights as a matter of freedom and liberty. In the House, Ryan champions customers being ripped off by utilities and fans\u2019 headaches over livestreamed sports \u2014 seemingly quotidian consumer concerns that resonate in a political era in which \u201caffordability\u201d is a crucial watchword.<\/p>\n

Since Trump\u2019s victory, Ryan has urged Democrats to embrace a \u201cpatriotic populism\u201d<\/u><\/a> to counteract the president\u2019s MAGA movement. He handily won reelection last year, outpacing Kamala Harris and defeating Republican Alison Esposito, a former NYPD lieutenant.<\/p>\n

Ryan\u2019s success in a battleground House seat comes from being authentic, a crucial coin of the realm in today\u2019s politics, said former Rep. Max Rose, a moderate Staten Island Democrat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know a lot of politicians. I\u2019ve served with some, had drinks with others, most of them are fake and completely void of character,\u201d Rose said. \u201cPat\u2019s a genuinely good person and he\u2019s the same person privately as he is publicly. I\u2019m proud that he\u2019s able to focus part of his efforts on finding other Pats.\u201d\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ALBANY, New York \u2014 Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan wants to build a bench of patriot-leaders \u2014 and is planning to raise millions of dollars to do it. The two-term House lawmaker is launching a political action committee today to elect candidates with public service backgrounds, including those with experience in the military, teaching or as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}