U.S. Rep. Joe Morelle has won re-election to a fifth term and now waits to see if Democrats can take control of Congress.
Morelle defeated Republican challenger Virginia McIntrye, vastly outspending the Monroe County legislator in the Democrat-leaning district. The district covers Monroe and extends into Ontario County.
The Associated Press declared Morelle the winner about 9:40 p.m. Tuesday.
Morelle's next steps will depend on how the midterms play out across the country. The more contentious the results are in key races, the sooner the Irondequoit lawmaker could find himself in the national spotlight.
The top Democrat on the House committee overseeing federal election policy was tasked by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries months ago with game-planning a counteroffensive to what the party expected to be Trump administration efforts to undermine the midterm results.
An assembled working group identified 150 potential threats, which reportedly ranged from voter intimidation with federal agents near polling sites to administration attempts to purge voter registrations to a floor fight on Jan. 3, 2027. That effort grew to include at least 100 organizations nationally that aides said have collectively committed over $100 million to retain lawyers and make other preparations.
Heading into the election, Morelle was spending about 40% of his time on that effort, aides said, and preparing to crisscross the country, if needed, in the days after.
Should Democrats regain the House majority, Morelle likely would assume leadership of the House Administration Committee. In addition to federal election policy, the oft-overlooked committee oversees security at the U.S. Capitol.
"It is suddenly a committee that is on the frontline of two very important battles," said Gerald Gamm, political science and history professor at the University of Rochester. Yet the committee is little studied because "these are issues we didn't expect to see in the 21st century."
The committee's other duties include oversight of The Smithsonian and daily House operations, including food service and member parking.
Going forward, aides expect that committee is where any investigations of election interference would begin. And it would be through that committee that the party expects to introduce a comprehensive, anti-corruption agenda — another measure spearheaded by Morelle, at Jeffries' request. Jeffries and Morelle worked together for years in the New York state Assembly before being elected to federal office.
The anti-corruption bill package runs about 1,000 pages, tackling issues from campaign finance to Supreme Court term limits and a ban on stock trading by the president, Congress and the high court.
Taken together, aides said, the measures are seen as a necessary first step toward rebuilding public trust and could become the first piece of legislation put forward by a reinvigorated majority. A majority that, if flipped, would give the state of New York more sway in Congress. Jeffries could be the next House Speaker. And the predominately Democrat state delegation — effectively silenced the past two years — could again find its voice.
