REPORT: Out of touch Josh Riley is bankrolled by soft-on-crime radicals
A new report details that out of touch Democrat Josh Riley is bankrolled by soft-on-crime radicals… And it’s been going on for years.
And Riley’s support for this radical agenda hasn’t come without its consequences. New York has seen countless criminals released without bail thanks to the very reforms Riley is championing.
“Radical Democrat Josh Riley is for criminals, not New Yorkers. Riley’s been pushing a soft-on-crime agenda for years that has already wreaked havoc on New Yorkers, and he cannot be trusted to keep them safe.” – NRCC Spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole
Maureen O’Toole
Eastern Regional Press Secretary
motoole@nrcc.org | @MaureenOToole4
Read the full article here or excerpts below:
Swing Seat Dem Took Campaign Donation From ‘Soft On Crime’ Group That Wants To Abolish Cash Bail
Daily Caller
Adam Pack
May 2, 2025
Democratic New York Rep. Josh Riley’s reelection campaign took a check from a left-wing activist group that supports abolishing cash bail, the Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.
Riley’s campaign committee accepted a $1,000 donation from Voters of Tomorrow PAC, a youth-driven advocacy organization that promotes a host of so-called criminal justice reform policies, according to his Q1 Federal Election Commission (FEC) report. The freshman lawmaker campaigned as a moderate Democrat and crossed the aisle on several pieces of GOP-backed legislation in the first months of the 119th Congress, but has repeatedly taken donations from left-wing groups that support eliminating cash bail among other far-left policies.
[…]
The NRCC slammed Riley for accepting a donation from a group that supports cash bail abolition among other “soft on crime” policies.
“Out of touch Democrat Josh Riley is a con man,” NRCC spokesperson Maureen O’Toole told the DCNF. “He’s desperately trying to dupe voters, but his record proves that he has been pushing radical soft on crime policies that are a threat to his district since day one. Josh Riley has no business being in Congress and he cannot be trusted to keep his constituents safe.”
A spokesperson for Riley did not respond to the DCNF’s multiple requests for comment.
[…]
New York’s state legislature eliminated cash bail for most misdemeanors and some low-level felonies in 2019 under former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s leadership. Republicans and certain New York Democrats have sharply criticized the prohibition of bail requirements for failing to crack down on repeat offenders and for contributing to a rise in crime in the state.
Roughly 65% of individuals released without bail under New York’s state law who had a recent prior arrest were rearrested within two years of release, according to a February 2024 study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice’s Data Collaborative for Justice.
One New York City man was arrested 46 times for retail theft in less than a year, but was allowed to walk free every time under the state’s bail reform laws, the New York Post reported in October 2021.
[…]
Riley’s 2022 and 2024 campaigns have also received tens of thousands of dollars from the left-wing New York Working Families Party (NY-WFP). The party’s criminal justice initiative advocates for the abolition of cash bail and has resisted efforts to roll back changes that weakened bail requirements under the 2019 law.
The NY-WFP has also resisted efforts to amend state law, stating “we will not go back” to cash bail.
[…]
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told the Wall Street Journal in March that the state’s elimination of cash bail for most criminal offenses in addition to other so-called criminal justice reforms have “rendered the criminal justice system in New York City a high-speed revolving door for recidivists.”