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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Yes, we're inviting the newly elected members of our local congressional delegation to come on briefly between now and New Year's and say what they hope to accomplish in the people's House in Washington now outside the heat of their competitive campaigns. Today we have two new members for just a few minutes each. One Democrat, Pat Ryan, representing parts of the Catskills and Hudson Valley, and one Republican, Anthony D'Esposito from parts of Nassau County on Long Island.

Congressman D'Esposito joins us first. This district, to be very precise, for those of you who don't know and may not live in it, is most of southern Nassau County. It's like Hemstead, Garden City, the five towns, freeport and oceanside, and down to Long Beach on the ocean. President Biden won the district by double digits in 2020, but now it's gone Republican for Congress by about four points. Congressman-elect D'Esposito, thank you so much for joining us. Welcome to WNYC.

Anthony D'Esposito: Thank you for having me. Good morning. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you, and same to you. I know you've been a New York City police officer. You've been a Hempstead Town Council member. How does it feel to be called Congressman-elect?

Anthony D'Esposito: It feels pretty good. It's nice to be a small part of history, and it's an honor to be in Washington DC. I'm actually here this week, and I'm looking forward to representing the people of the 4th Congressional District.

Brian Lehrer: Why do you think you won in a district where Democrats have served going back even before Kathleen Rice, Carolyn McCarthy had that seat previously, I know the district lines changed a little bit, but actually not that much. this was a district that, as I said, Biden won.

Anthony D'Esposito: Absolutely. People have said the redistricting actually didn't put us in that much of a better position. I think the reason why we won was a few things. I think the first is that we stuck to the issues. We stuck to the issues that matter to the people of this district. Anybody that I spoke to, even as a member of the Hempstead Town Board, someone who works night and day, always out in the community, making myself accessible, and that was one of the hallmarks of my campaign, is that we needed somebody with boots on the ground.

I've always said that when I was a young cop, I was told no matter how cold it is, no matter how hot it is, you need to drive around the streets with the windows down so you could hear the streets and smell the streets. I said that's exactly what I was going to bring to being a member of Congress. I think we stuck to the issues. While the Democrats tried to veer us off track on two issues that I'm not saying weren't important, but they weren't the most important and we stuck to the script, and we stuck to what mattered.

I think that really resonated. I also think that the people of this district has seen the Democratic Party, those Democrats, they feel like they don't have a party anymore because so many Democrats have gone too far to the left. When I was campaigning and speaking to people, I remember a morning at the Belmore train station. A gentleman came up. You could tell he was someone who was knocking a hammer. He came up the escalator and he said, "Are you a Republican or are you a Democrat?"

I said, "I'm a Republican." He said, "I'm a lifelong Democrat. I voted for Biden, I voted for Obama, I voted for Clinton. I just want to let you know I will never vote for a Democrat again." One of the biggest issues that he had a problem with was crime. I think that was also a big part of this campaign. People are concerned, Nassau county is a safe place, and the Nassau County Police Department and the Village Police Departments do a great job. the fact of the matter is that many people work in the city.

Many people in this district are police officers or firefighters or members of EMS who deal with this violence every day. When you speak to the Democrats who have the opportunity to change it, they just say that there's nothing wrong. We saw it in Nassau County in 2021 when Anne Donnelly beat Todd Kaminsky for district attorney. She was virtually unknown. A 32-year prosecutor be a sitting state senator with over $3 million in the bank and it was all about crimes. She won by 15,000 votes.

Brian Lehrer: That was definitely an indication. Several of the elections on the island last year foretold this outcome for sure in exactly that respect. How do you bring that to Congress? Because people might say crime is actually a local issue, so no wonder if that was a concern, Lee Zeldin came as close as he did to Kathy Hochul. What do you do about that in the House of Representatives?

Anthony D'Esposito: Listen, I don't think that crime is the only issue that I'm looking to tackle here in Washington. I think that crime is local, but there are plenty of things that on a federal level we can do to make our streets safer. When I was a New York City detective, we participated in federal partnerships with the New York City Police Department and the ATF to take illegal guns off the street.

There are task forces that can be put together. There's funding that could be bought, communications. We can make sure that we work together in a cohesive manner to stop the trafficking of guns along I-95, what we refer to as the Iron Pipeline. We can secure our borders because, without a doubt, those open borders are making our streets less safe. When it comes to crime, there's plenty that we can do, but we also need to focus on people's pockets, because that was a big part of this campaign and something that I will focus on. We need to repeal that salt tax.

We need to become more energy-independent, and we need to cut spending and make the government more efficient. It's something that I worked on in a bipartisan fashion as a Hempstead Town Councilman. The last four years, I delivered either a tax cut or a hold-the-line on tax budget. We've been increased to one of the highest bond ratings on Wall Street, and it's all been done with conservative values at hand.

Brian Lehrer: I wonder, as a former police officer, where you are on the kinds of gun control bills that the Democrats promote, universal background checks, ban on assault weapons, things like that. I think a lot of police officers, in my experience hosting the show, want those kinds of things, too, because they don't want the bad guys to outgun the good guys. Then there's also a libertarian streak and a gun rights second amendment streak on the part of a lot of cops. Where do you fall?

Anthony D'Esposito: I think that what we need to focus on when it comes to gun reform is to first start with removing illegal guns off the street and actually prosecuting those individuals who tote those guns. That's one of the things that we failed at. That's what we need to focus on. Secondly, there is no doubt we need to provide more funding for mental health. I am all for conducting background checks. I am also a huge proponent of training. As a New York City detective and as any member of law enforcement, we conduct firearm training multiple times a year.

There's no reason why people that are legal gun owners can't do the same. I think the focus needs to be on not restricting legal gun ownership. Let's focus first on removing the illegal guns off the street and actually prosecuting the individuals, not having them flee the jail cell before the police officers are actually done with the paperwork.

Brian Lehrer: All right, we're just about out of time. This, as you know, is just a quick getting-to-know, a congratulations touch base with you, and a little introduction to our listeners in the area who may have not followed the 4th Congressional District race in Nassau County. We look forward to having you back on and talking policy once you're in and you're actually seated and you have to vote on things. We look forward to that.

Just tell me for now, I think you heard that last stretch of our conversation with Susan Page from USA TODAY before she left. Have you decided for yourself whether you're going to vote for Kevin McCarthy for speaker or anyone else?

Anthony D'Esposito: When we had our caucus meeting, it was two weeks ago, I did vote for and support Kevin McCarthy. Leader McCarthy was instrumental in the winning of these seats on Long Island. He supported us from day one. He was on Long Island campaigning with us. I'm a firm believer. I was always taught loyalty and always leaving with the one who brought you to the dance. I will be supporting Kevin McCarthy, and I hope that our party can get unified behind him.

Brian Lehrer: All right, that's one for Kevin McCarthy from Nassau County, congressman-elect Anthony D'Esposito. Thanks for coming on today. I appreciate it a lot. Happy holidays.

Anthony D'Esposito: Thank you. Have a great holiday.

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now we go on to a newly elected Democrat from the area and not technically newly elected, because Pat Ryan, some of you will remember, did win a special election back in the summer for the seat that Antonio Delgado vacated in the Upper Hudson Valley when he became Kathy Hochul's lieutenant governor. He moved Pat Ryan did, from Ulster County Executive to a seat in Congress for that very temporary period of August until the end of this year.

Now he's won a seat for a full term in Congress. Because of the redistricting mass, it's actually from a different district. That was the 19th Congressional District. This is the 18th Congressional District now. It's the one that now includes his home, which used to be in the 19th. You don't have to memorize these things. There won't be a test. He lives in Gardner near Newport. The new district is kind of a diagonal from the Catskills in the Southwest, to the mid-Hudson Valley to the east. Another way to describe it is that it's kind of unusual in that it runs from a Port Jervis out at that exact spot where New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania meet at a point up to the exact spot where New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts come to a point. The district is all in New York, of course, but it borders four other states two the west, and to the east.

With that, Congressman Pat Ryan, welcome back to WNYC.

Pat Ryan: Hey, Brian, thank you for having me. I'm glad that you made that connection of all the states we get to border here, it's a pretty great district.

Brian Lehrer: I guess I got the map right then. I'm enough of a maps geek but that's really entertaining to me about bordering four other states. I was just making sure with you that I saw it correctly on the map, yes?

Pat Ryan: You got it. That's impressive, I'm not surprised.

Brian Lehrer: In a swing district, in a swing year, whereas we heard with our previous guest, a lot of areas close to New York City, and one district in New York City that was represented by a Democrat have gone Republican. Why do you think you won?

Pat Ryan: Trust me, the last thing I wanted to be standing here today is the really the only New York Democrat that wants to toss up race up here, that's certainly not what we were all working hard for but I'm proud of what we did and how hard we fought. What's interesting, you talked about the special election in August, from August, right through till November, we stayed on and really push the same message, a twin theme at two main focuses of protecting fundamental rights and delivering economic relief.

Rights and relief. Just over and over making sure people knew that we were actually listening to them and hearing, not only were they worried about abortion rights being ripped away, more deadly guns on our streets, the same weapons I carried in combat, but they're also, of course, really struggling with economic impacts of rising costs and prices. Focusing on rights and relief is how we won in August, and it's how we won again, just a few weeks ago.

Brian Lehrer: You heard our previous guest, Republican Congressman-elect D'Esposito, and really the polls nationwide showed that people who voted for Republicans listed inflation overwhelmingly as their number one issue, people who voted for Democrats for Congress listed abortion rights overwhelmingly as their number one issue which means that a lot of people around the country think that Republicans have better plans or more plans to fight inflation than the Democrats do.

What do you think a Democrat's approach to inflation would be since you mentioned that as a prime issue that the new Congress could still take up?

Pat Ryan: We already passed significant and really impactful legislation with the Inflation Reduction Act, which I campaigned on, and especially on lowering prescription drug prices was really impactful in showing people that we were actually fighting for them. I think, to answer your question, what it all comes down to is, do people trust that you understand the pain that they're dealing with and the pressure and that you're really going to go and fight for them, and ideally, that you've already delivered some relief?

What we talked about, and what I talked about in our campaign when it came to economic relief was, what I had done as county executive cutting our county gas tax in half, cutting our property taxes to the lowest level in 40 years, providing millions in small business relief. Trust me, I've done this, and I get where you're coming from and then we talked about what Congress has already done with the historic inflation Reduction Act, and the work that we have to continue to do. I think so much of this comes back to people really feeling in their gut and in their heart that you are understanding their challenges, and you're going to really go and fight, you're not the typical kind of politician that's just telling them what they want to hear and I think that really connected for us.

Brian Lehrer: What have you learned so far, being in Congress for just a few months, you almost didn't qualify for this series on the show because technically, you're in Congress and this is for the newcomers who are newly elected but we decided to include you because you were newly elected this year, which was just in August. Now you're going to serve a full term but what's been the most surprising thing to you? You've been a marine and you've been a county executive. Being in Congress is so different from either of those things, what's it been like?

Pat Ryan: No offense to my fellow marines, I'm an army vet and a-- [crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: Oh, army vet, I'm sorry.

Pat Ryan: Oh, no, that's okay. Yes, a similar record to military service. Actually, I don't think it's that different. The first day at West Point, they taught us as new cadets, there are three answers you could give to any question, yes, no, or no excuse and we literally put this in one of my campaign ads. Right now we just hear so damn excuses from people in Washington, we have to figure out how to actually deliver for folks.

In my first few weeks, actually, my second week, in the house back in September, I introduced a bill, got it passed through the entire house with broad bipartisan support in three weeks to expand VA Home Loan access for veterans across the country, hundreds of thousands of veterans. What I've learned is, if you do the work, if you propose legislation where there is broad agreement, Congress can still work and we can actually still deliver results for people and I just think we need more people down there who come with that mindset.

Brian Lehrer: How about the lame duck session that we started the show by talking about-- Some of the listeners are still with us from 45 minutes ago. Lame duck session, what can you get done if anything, before the Democrats, lose control of the House in January?

Pat Ryan: As I'm sure you discussed critical things on the docket, we're going to have the opportunity, I believe, to vote on a landmark marriage equality bill which is so important to millions of Americans, and I'm excited to vote in favor of. The Electoral Count Act has to get passed, we can not have another January 6, which I just think is one of the darkest moments in our entire democracy's history. We have to get that through and that should come back through once the Senate passes it. I'm honored to serve on the Armed Services Committee, we have our full NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act that we have to vote on, which will make sure we can protect our country and support our troops and then actually having another event today down at West Point to talk about some of the priorities there.

Those are some of the big things coming up, a lot of critical stuff that we have to get through, and again, I just think that the currency of governing and democracy is trust, and the only way we restore trust in our democracy is to deliver. To deliver on the big things like marriage equality and national defense and to deliver on the day-to-day things of helping people improve their roads and make sure they're getting economic relief, and that they can keep their business open and that veterans can have access to VA Home Loans, that all adds up.

Brian Lehrer: I know you got to go in a couple of seconds. Just tell us, is Biden 2024 for you, or would you like to see somebody younger, somebody fresher, somebody more progressive, whatever Ryan and him step aside?

Pat Ryan: I was proud to have President Biden come to our districts right about a month before the election, and show that same delivering delivery that I was talking about, announcing a $20 billion investment in the Hudson Valley in quantum computing and supercomputing with IBM. I think the President has delivered consistently from the very beginning with the Infrastructure Act, the American rescue plan through to the provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, and a lot more. I'm excited to continue to deliver for the American people with President Biden, and we'll see what he decides in 2024 but in the meantime, we got a lot of work to do and excited to do that.

Brian Lehrer: Congressman Pat Ryan from District 18, north of the city, and a district that is now from Port Jervis, through much of the Catskills up to the mid-Hudson Valley, and to that point where Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York all come together. Thanks. Good luck in your first full term in Congress, we'll continue to invite you on the show to talk about policy as things develop.

Pat Ryan: Thank you so much, Brian. Have a great day.

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