Josh Riley Plays Up His ‘Deep Roots in Upstate New York.’ He Just Moved Back After a Decade in D.C.
16th September 2022
In his campaign materials, Democrat Josh Riley is a flannel-wearing, beer-drinking, fifth-generation upstate New Yorker with blue-collar values. In real life, Riley spent years at an elite Washington, D.C., law firm and returned upstate just months ago to launch his congressional run.
Riley’s campaign site says the Democrat is “running for Congress to give working families a Square Deal” and touts his upbringing “in a working-class neighborhood” in upstate New York. Riley’s campaign launch video, meanwhile, features the flannel-and-hoodie-clad candidate alongside run-down factories and modest homes. Later in the spot, before clinking a Miller Lite glass in a dimly-lit dive bar, Riley pledges to put himself “back at the kitchen table” with his “neighbors [in] upstate New York and ask what’s best for them.”