Delgado also plans to adopt some of the reformist points of Trump’s platform, with some progressive tweaks of course. “Trump talked about a trillion dollar infrastructure bill. I’d imagine a lot of folks who voted for Trump liked that idea. I did too,” but, he says, “it was thrown away with that trillion dollar tax giveaway. We should invest in roads, rails, broadband access, cell service and get back to creating jobs for folks across this region.” That’s one way he believes he can pull in voters who “look at a guy like Faso and say, ‘oh, you’re just a part of the swamp.’”
Delgado also believes that, despite being a person of color running in a predominantly white district, race will not play a significant or negative factor in his campaign. “I think it’s important to understand the history of this district,” Delgado says, explaining that Obama won the district twice despite it being redistricted to become more Republican leaning. Delgado also believes that “ by demonstrating a real commitment to serve, listen to, and engage with voters to build a future for them,” he can “transcend race.” He even views his status as an African American a status, expressing a hope that “if anything, it could excite folks and turn out the vote.”
Ok. Ok. Whats Next?
Delgado has a few ideas of what he’d like to do in office if elected. “I definitely would sign on to the paycheck fairness act. I definitely would sign onto the paid family leave act. I would vote to repeal the tax scam. I would co-sponsor a trillion dollar infrastructure bill,” he said, “and I definitely would work with anybody committed to figuring out how to provide universal health for the folks of this country and particularly folks in the Hudson Valley and the Catskills.” He also noted that he would strive for bipartisan solutions, and that he would sit on the committees on workforce development, education, transportation and agriculture. Asked about term limits, Delgado said “I have not committed to term limits, but I do give a lot of thought to the idea and I do see value in the idea,” but, he declared, “I have not decided one way or the other.”
But perhaps those are questions best left for another day. Delgado will have a long road ahead of him to defeat Faso. He will have to continue to raise enormous sums while Faso receives help from outside spending both from his party – the Congressional Leadership Fund, a PAC aligned with Republican House leadership, has already committed $1 million to his reelection – and various corporate PACs supporting him. Moreover, he’ll be fighting to win in one of the most rural districts in the country at a time when rural voters are widely seen as flocking to the Republican party, with the Democrats becoming the party of suburban and urban voters. But Delgado is, in fact, favored slightly to win the seat. Election forecaster G. Elliott Morris gives Democrats a 67% chance of winning the seat (lower than the 71.4% chance FiveThirtyEight gave to Hillary Clinton on the eve of the 2016 election), forecasting a 4% margin of victory. Still, that’s tight enough to make this race a toss-up, guaranteed to garner nationwide attention and funds. To those primary voters beleaguered by the long contest you just endured; you ain’t seen nothing yet.
