The Case Against Peter Oberacker

“Josh Riley is a fifth-generation Upstate New Yorker who has spent his life fighting for working families and taking on the utility companies and corporate giants driving up New Yorkers’ costs. Peter Oberacker is an out-of-touch Albany insider who lied the second he launched his campaign, sided with corporate special interests over Upstate families at every turn, and would rubber stamp Donald Trump’s health care cuts and cost-raising agenda. Upstate families deserve a local fighter like Josh Riley, not a self-serving businessman who has only ever looked out for himself — and that’s exactly why they’ll send Josh back to Congress this November,” said DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene.

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A fifth-generation Upstate New Yorker, Josh Riley has spent his career fighting for the working families he grew up with. Born in Binghamton and raised in West Endicott, Josh watched Washington sell out communities like his, putting Wall Street and corporate elites ahead of everyday people. He has fought to flip that script ever since. Josh is powered by grassroots support because his vote is not for sale, and he has taken on the powerful utility companies and big corporations driving up costs for Upstate families, leading bipartisan efforts to lower energy bills, ban foreign ownership of New York utilities, lower gas prices, and save rural hospitals from the chopping block. Josh is focused on one thing: giving Upstate families a fair shot.

Peter Oberacker is the complete opposite of Josh, and he proved it the day he launched his flailing campaign. In his launch video, Oberacker stared into the camera from picturesque Upstate farmland and claimed “this soil, it’s where I was born and raised.” It was a lie. Oberacker was actually born in Merrick, on Long Island, more than 200 miles and nearly four hours from the Upstate “hometown” he pretends is his own. If Oberacker is willing to lie to Upstate voters about something as simple as where he is from, why should they trust him in Washington?

But the lie is just one sign of his flawed character. Oberacker is an out-of-touch Albany insider and winery owner who has spent his career cozying up to corporate special interests, voting against tax cuts for the middle class, and siding with price-hiking utility companies over the families paying their bills. Oberacker also embarrassingly surrounds himself with the most hateful voices in his party, handpicking a campaign manager exposed for racist and antisemitic messages. In Washington, he would rubber stamp Donald Trump’s disastrous agenda to rip health care away from Upstate New Yorkers.

Oberacker Looks Out for Big Corporations and His Own Bottom Line, Not Upstate Working Families

Peter Oberacker has spent his career padding his own bottom line at Upstate New York’s expense. New York State Focus identified Oberacker as one of the State Legislature’s “top private earners,” reporting a salary of up to $250,000 from his company Formtech Solutions and an estimated net worth of up to nearly $1.5 million. So it is no surprise that in 2022, Oberacker voted against a bill capping outside income for state legislators, a cap that would have hit the legislature’s top earners, including himself. He even voted to lay off dozens of Otsego County workers and called it “the right thing,” all while fighting to protect his own outside income.

Time and again, Oberacker has chosen corporate lobbyists, polluters, and utility companies over the Upstate families he was elected to represent. He took campaign money from a foreign energy giant’s subsidiary, then did their bidding at every turn: voting against protecting New Yorkers from having their service shut off, against limiting the “fixed charges” utilities tack onto monthly bills, and against $200 million in utility relief for low-income New Yorkers. He put Big Pharma’s profits over Upstate families, voting repeatedly against lowering prescription drug costs and capping insulin prices.

Oberacker’s corporate loyalty has come at the expense of Upstate’s land and water, too. He served as an executive at a Big Ag company charged with hundreds of federal environmental violations, and in Albany he voted to allow “forever chemicals” linked to cancer in consumer products while raising costs on clean energy projects.

The contrast with Josh Riley could not be sharper. Powered by grassroots support, Josh has spent his time in Congress taking on the special interests and self-dealing politicians rigging the system against Upstate families. He introduced the Ban Corporate PACs Act to get corporate dark money out of politics and legislation to clean up the corruption that lets politicians enrich themselves in Washington. He has gone after the utility companies gouging Upstate New Yorkers, introducing legislation to ban foreign ownership of New York utilities, leading the bipartisan fight to stop utility CEOs from cashing in on rate hikes, and even intervening directly in legal cases to fight rate increases. Oberacker works for big corporations and himself. Josh works for Upstate New York.

Oberacker Will Rubberstamp Trump’s Agenda That Raises Costs and Guts Health Care for Upstate New York

Peter Oberacker has pledged his “unwavering support” to Donald Trump and the Big, Ugly Bill, even going as far as to lie and call a vote against the bill a vote “against the American worker.” But the damage to NY-19 is staggering. The Big, Ugly Bill puts more than 36,000 NY-19 residents at risk of losing their health insurance, threatens to rip food off the tables of more than 40,000 households in the district, and slashes more than $33.5 million from local hospitals, one of which has already terminated outpatient diabetes services because of the bill’s steep cuts. And because Washington Republicans let the ACA tax credits expire – NY-19 residents on marketplace plans could see their premiums spike by as much as 181%.

The Big, Ugly Bill also drives up energy costs for every family in NY-19 by roughly $170 a year. And as the reckless war of choice in Iran costs New York families an estimated $750 more per household in gas and energy, Oberacker has stood by Trump at every turn. In Washington, Oberacker would go along with the agenda that’s forcing Upstate families to pay more for health care, energy, and groceries, all to fund a bill that hands massive tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy, including business owner deductions, a permanent estate tax exemption, and beverage industry handouts that could benefit Oberacker as a winery owner.

This is nothing new for Oberacker. In Albany, he voted against cutting taxes for New York’s middle class, voted twice against expanding the Empire State Child Tax Credit that supports 1.6 million families, and co-sponsored a bill to delay raising the minimum wage. As an Otsego County representative, he repeatedly voted to raise local taxes, hiking them by hundreds of thousands of dollars. While Oberacker raises costs on working families and supports cutting taxes for the ultrawealthy every chance he gets, Josh Riley is leading the fight to lower energy bills, gas prices, and health care costs for the Upstate families Oberacker sells out.

Oberacker Cozies Up to Racists and Antisemites

You can tell a lot about Peter Oberacker from the company he keeps. His handpicked would-be campaign manager Bobby Walker and his close ally Peter Giunta both helped staff Oberacker’s congressional launch on October 6th, just eight days before a bombshell Politico investigation exposed them as central figures in a Young Republicans group chat overflowing with racist, antisemitic, and violent messages.

The contents of that chat can only be described as sickening. Oberacker’s ally Walker described rape as “epic,” used countless homophobic slurs, mocked the late Senator John McCain by stating he prefers his war heroes “not captured,” and said “my people built the train tracks with the Chinese.” Giunta, who created the chat, wrote that people who didn’t vote for him are “going to the gas chamber,” called someone a “fat stinky Jew,” called Black people “the watermelon people,” wrote “I’d go to the zoo if I wanted to watch monkey play ball,” and said he loved Hitler. In all, the chat featured more than 250 instances of racist and homophobic slurs.

Oberacker has praised both Walker and Giunta by name for years, gave Giunta his “wholehearted endorsement” for a seat on the Young Republican National Federation board, and called the New York Young Republicans “instrumental” in his elections. When the scandal broke, Oberacker appeared to scrub a tweet thanking Walker and Giunta, while the two tried to dodge responsibility by claiming the messages may have been “manipulated.”

Josh Riley made it clear: “The vile, racist, and antisemitic language in these messages is disgusting and the exact opposite of Upstate New York’s values. Anyone involved in spreading or excusing that kind of hate has no business in public office.” Peter Oberacker did not just tolerate that hate. He elevated the people spreading it.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

NOTUS: For This House Democrat, the Political Fight Over Affordability Is Also a Legal One [NOTUS, 1/6/26]

“Democrats have had plenty to say on the campaign trail about rising energy prices. One — New York Rep. Josh Riley — is getting involved legally. Riley said he is the only member of Congress to add himself as an official party to legal cases playing out over utility price hikes.

“He intervened as an official party in November 2024 — the month he was elected to Congress — in a state case launched against the Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation after the utility proposed a rate hike. And in July, he intervened in a similar case about a New York State Electric and Gas rate hike proposal, unlocking the ability to cross-examine the utility companies, access evidence in the cases and more.”

WBNG: Congressman Josh Riley co-sponsors bill to keep rural hospitals funded after proposed cuts [WBNG, 8/27/25]

“Following $50 billion worth of cuts to Medicaid under H.R. 1, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, Congressman Josh Riley is looking to keep rural hospitals afloat. Riley is now co-sponsoring the Rural Hospital Stabilization Act, legislation that would provide $500 million in emergency support to rural hospitals.”

River Reporter: Riley bill to lower gas prices passes House [River Reporter, 5/21/26]

“The Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act (H.R.1346) Act, legislation co-sponsored by Rep. Josh Riley (NY-19) to bring down costs at the pump, passed the House with broad bipartisan support. The bill will lower gas prices by permanently allowing the year-round sale of E15 – a more affordable blend of ethanol and gasoline that could save drivers more than 40 cents per gallon.”

Daily Freeman: Riley pushes anti-corruption ‘Drain the Swamp’ legislation [Daily Freeman, 6/10/26]

River Reporter: Riley, Landsman lead effort to increase government accountability and take on corruption [River Reporter, 6/10/26]