FIRST ON FOX: A Democratic congressman in a tight re-election race in New York took part in a Zoom town hall where he said “the impacts” of Republican “fearmongering” is “number one” when it comes to the border and public safety.

“Last year I think all these districts lost on the crime issue and now, is crime still a big issue that you are fighting there?  You said it was crime, economy, and border,” Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan was asked in a Zoom call with Democrat activists from the New York Buddy Group last week. “So, the crime issue is BS too. So is that, but is that still strong?”  

Ryan, who responded without challenging the premise that the “crime issue is BS” said, “Yeah, I’d say that, you know, in our polling the, ‘the border’ and immigration, which I think is a broad category for this kind of like public safety fearmongering. The impacts of the fearmongering that Republicans have been doing, that is number one.” 

“Economy is a close second, and specifically the cost, not like the macro, what’s the GDP, what’s unemployment, but the cost of living, housing, groceries, and healthcare are the three,” Ryan said. “We actually polled specific subcategories of costs that people are experiencing. So the way I see it as setting up message wise, Republicans are going to really continue to focus on fear, crime, border where they are more trusted right now.” 

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“We, of course, are going to continue to focus rightly on abortion rights, reproductive freedom where we’re way more trusted,” Ryan continued. “That middle lane is the economy and what we’ve done and will do more importantly to lower costs on housing, healthcare, groceries, gas, utilities, which we have a track record, we have plans, it’s just about communicating those and I think we’re making good headway there especially on our campaign.”

Ryan is running for re-election in New York’s 18th Congressional District against Republican Alison Esposito in a race that the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) has identified as one of its top 40 targets in November.

“Pat Ryan made Ulster County a sanctuary county and then took that same mentality to Washington where he pretends to be a moderate on television, but then votes like an extremist. He does not care about the important issues facing NY-18, like the ongoing migrant crisis that is harming New Yorkers every day,” NRCC spokeswoman Savannah Viar told Fox News Digital in a statement.

Ryan spokesperson Sam Silverman, in a statement to Fox News Digital, said, “Congressman Ryan served 27 months in combat – he knows what it means to secure a border. That’s why he’s been one of the few Democrats to consistently and aggressively push President Biden to restore order at the border. But let’s be clear – there’s a massive difference between working in good-faith for a bipartisan solution to secure our border and bizarre far-right fearmongering like lying about migrants eating people’s pets.”

“The truth is that Congressman Ryan has the strongest record on border security in this race,” Silverman continued. “Pat led a bipartisan effort with Congressmen Lawler and Molinaro calling on President Biden to declare a state of emergency in New York in response to the migrant crisis, was one of only 15 Democrats to demand President Biden take executive action to restore order at the border and has gotten multiple pieces of border legislation signed into law, including the ‘Securing America’s Borders Against Fentanyl Act’ and the ‘Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act.’”

Silverman added that “unfortunately” this is “an uncomfortable reality for Alison Esposito, who opposed the strongest border security legislation in decades, so she’s desperately searching for any opportunity to score cheap political points to salvage her failing campaign. Alison can spend her time politicizing the border; Pat is doing the actual work to fix it.”

Esposito has labeled Ryan “Sanctuary Pat” while criticizing him for his immigration policies focusing on what most polls say is the second most important issue, behind the economy, for voters in November.

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Immigrants line up at a remote Border Patrol processing center after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. (John Moore/Getty Images)

“Pat Ryan can try to run from his record on sanctuary and open border policies, but Hudson Valley residents know the truth,” a spokesperson for the Esposito campaign told Fox News Digital. “In 2019, he declared Ulster County a sanctuary county, prohibiting cooperation with federal agencies. His record speaks for itself: he opposed H.R. 2 in May 2023, which aimed to secure the border; he voted against the Laken Riley Act; and he supports allowing illegal migrants to vote in our elections.”

“If Pat Ryan were serious about border security, he would have taken action long ago—now, we’re nearly 50 days from Election Day. Ryan’s recent comments are a slap in the face to the millions of Americans affected by the Biden-Harris border crisis. From the fentanyl flooding our borders to the countless victims of crimes committed by illegal migrants, this crisis is not fear mongering, and it is no joke.”

The Cook Political Report ranks the race in NY-18 as “Lean Democrat.”