PHONY JOSH: New FEC Filing Shows Riley Bankrolled by Group Hostile to Farmers
A new report on Josh Riley’s latest FEC filing reveals he’s raking in campaign cash from a far-left group hostile to Upstate farmers.
For the second time this cycle, Riley accepted a donation from a group that wants to buy up Upstate’s farmland for solar farms and hurt farmers by reducing beef consumption.
Read the full story here or see excerpts below:
‘Complete Fraud’: NRCC Blasts NY Dem Josh Riley Over NRDC Donations
Townhall
Scott McClallen
July 16, 2026
A new filing from the Federal Election Commission shows that Democrat Rep. Josh Riley (NY-19) has accepted another $1,000 from the left-wing NRDC Action Fund.
The group has targeted farmers, one of the district’s largest industries. Statewide, over 30,000 farms spanning over 6.5 million acres employ more than 56,000 people.
In an April blog post, the NRDC said that it must “move far faster” to build solar farms. The group wants to lease farmers’ land to place solar panels.
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The study from the American Farmland Trust said that from 2001 to 2016, over a quarter of a million acres of farmland were developed or fragmented by residential development. About 61 percent of farmers who responded to a survey said that solar development has harmed farmland rentals, while nearly 75 percent reported increased land scarcity, 68 percent said that land was more expensive to rent, and 36 percent said that they lost the land they once rented.
New York farmers often use their land to grow crops or raise cattle. There are over 1 million head of cattle in the state, but the NRDC has also called for limiting beef consumption to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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National Republican Congressional Committee Spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole said that Riley is bought by solar companies while he claims to fight for farmers.
“Out of touch Democrat Josh Riley is a complete fraud,” O’Toole said. “He wants voters to believe he’s fighting for Upstate farmers, but the truth is, he’s bankrolled by radical groups trying to undermine them. Riley is completely out of step with Upstate voters’ values, and he has no place representing them in Washington.”
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