Asm. Edward Ra
Edward Ra (R-AD-19) represents a safe Republican district on Long Island with a district partisan lean of R+5 and a Republican voter registration edge of 35.5% to 30.8% Democrat, with 29.8% enrolled as Independent. Ra won his most recent election in 2024 with 64.4% of the vote against Sanjeev Kumar Jindal, a margin of 28.8 points, and his 2026 vulnerability rating is Safe R across all modeled environments, including a base lean of R+21. The district is a high-income, majority-homeowner suburban community with a median household income of $161,304, a homeownership rate of 83.7%, and a population that is 65.7% white, 16.0% Asian, 13.2% Hispanic, and 2.9% Black. In the 2025 session Ra sponsored 97 bills, with his heaviest concentrations in Tax (10 bills), State Finance (9 bills), Criminal Procedure (6 bills), and Education and Public Authorities (5 bills each); the brief does not list Ra as chair of any committee.AI
Topic Focus AI
Topics extracted by AI from floor debate speeches, joint committee hearing transcripts, and sponsored legislation. Tag size reflects number of supporting citations.
Key Issues AI
Key issue areas derived from floor debate speeches and sponsored bill law sections.
Legislative Activity (2025–2026)
Bill sponsorship from NYS Open Legislation API. Hearing appearances from joint Senate-Assembly committee transcripts. Floor debate from official Assembly session transcripts (Granicus, 2023–present).
Bill Focus Areas 2025–2026
Grouped by law section from sponsored Assembly bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation API.
Floor Speeches: In Support (12) AI
Synthetic kratom is targeting children and youth; banning it will prevent what could be the fourth wave of the opioid crisis and make communities safer through bipartisan legislative action.
Floor Speeches: In Opposition (2) AI
Argued existing regulatory processes already address the bill's concerns: the PSC's Energize NY proceeding examines ratepayer protection and cost allocation, and the NYISO interconnection process plus utility engineering work already creates a 2.5+ year timeline before construction. Contended the one-year moratorium is irrelevant given these existing delays. Criticized the bill for focusing only on negative impacts while ignoring positive economic benefits including construction jobs, permanent employment, tax base expansion, and local development—benefits typically handled by IDAs and local agencies.
Raised extensive concerns about the bill's breadth and vagueness, noting that hospitals, banks, credit cards, technology companies, and small businesses all expressed concerns. Argued the bill goes far beyond protecting medical records and regulates information that merely allows health conditions to be inferred, forcing businesses to guess what is covered and hire lawyers to interpret vague definitions.
Electoral History AD-19
General Elections
| Year | Winner | Runner-up | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Edward P. Ra 64.4% (42,865) | Sanjeev Kumar Jindal 35.6% (23,726) | 28.8pts |
| 2022 | Edward P. Ra 66.4% (33,908) | Sanjeev Kumar Jindal 33.6% (17,141) | 32.8pts |
| 2020 | Edward P. Ra 58.9% (38,509) | Gary B. Port 41.1% (26,831) | 17.8pts |
| 2018 | Edward P. Ra 55.5% (26,266) | Billy Carr 44.5% (21,083) | 11.0pts |
| 2016 | Edward P. Ra 61.6% (34,648) | Gary B. Port 38.4% (21,611) | 23.2pts |
| 2014 | Edward P. Ra 69.0% (21,194) | Gary B. Port 31.0% (9,521) | 38.0pts |
| 2012 | Edward P. Ra 62.1% (28,799) | Gary B. Port 37.9% (17,599) | 24.2pts |
| 2010 | David G. McDonough 65.2% (24,948) | John E. Brooks 34.8% (13,289) | 30.4pts |
| 2008 | David G. McDonough 62.0% (33,260) | Howard А. Kudler 38.0% (20,363) | 24.0pts |
| 2006 | David G. McDonough 57.0% (20,681) | Donald Birnbaum 43.0% (15,627) | 14.0pts |
| 2004 | David G. McDonough 59.6% (32,708) | Jay L. T. Breakstone 40.4% (22,171) | 19.2pts |
| 2002 | David G. McDonough 61.3% (21,753) | Michael Moore 38.7% (13,723) | 22.6pts |
| 2000 | Kathleen P. Murray 53.4% (25,342) | Steven C. November 46.0% (21,810) | ⚡ 7.4pts |
| 1998 | Kathleen P. Murray 59.5% (21,391) | Tina B. Davidson 37.7% (13,554) | 21.8pts |
| 1996 | Charles J. O'Shea 65.1% (30,031) | Pamela A. Brown 33.2% (15,327) | 31.9pts |
Special Elections
| Year | Winner | Runner-up | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | David G. McDonough 51.5% (5,559) | Steven November 48.3% (5,213) | ⚡ 3.2pts |
Source: NYS Board of Elections certified results. ⚡ = margin under 10 pts. District history reflects 2022 redistricted boundaries.
Vulnerability Index AD-19
Base lean: R+21
Scenario model: ±5pt national environment shift applied to district base lean (R+21). Base lean blends voter registration (40%) with recent contested general election margins (60%), using up to the last 4 general elections with margins under 40 points. Ratings: Safe D/R = 15+ pts, Likely = 8–14 pts, Lean = 3–7 pts, Toss-up = within 2 pts (Assembly districts are smaller and more homogeneous than Senate districts, so tighter thresholds are used). Generic ballot from Silver Bulletin (Nate Silver), as of 10/20/2026. Not a prediction — reflects structural competitiveness under different cycle environments.
District 19 Profile
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (2024).
Voter Registration
Demographics
Commute Mode
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (2024). Race and ethnicity figures may not sum to 100% — Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity category that overlaps with racial groups.
Lobbying Activity
No lobbying disclosures on record for this member in the available dataset.
Source: NY Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government via data.ny.gov.