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.
Farmers who are strapped for cash might lease out land to solar companies, but one 2024 study found that solar farms might require up to 50 years of remediation.
Another study found that “good quality farmland” is the “first-choice site for solar development,” which can be “devastating to a farm business.”
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.
The USDA reported that Riley’s district is the twelfth-most cattle-producing congressional district in the country, with 161,805 cattle and calves. That district boasts about 4,547 farms with a total of 909,643 acres.
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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.”
Riley claims that he fights against big corporations on behalf of New Yorkers, but he also takes money from groups backed by them.
When big corporations have unchecked power to buy off Washington politicians, it’s impossible for our politics to actually represent the interests of working families.
— Rep. Josh Riley (@RepRileyNY) July 15, 2026
That’s why my Drain the Swamp Act BANS corporate PACs. It’s time to put power back where it belongs: with the…
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