New York U.S. Rep.-elect Pat Ryan denounces ‘traitorous’ Trump after upset win in NY-19 special election

Democratic Rep.-elect Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) celebrated his upset win in a Hudson Valley special election by denouncing former President Donald Trump as “essentially traitorous.”

The newly minted liberal rising star took a victory lap after his shocking win in Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado’s old NY-19 seat, a win that has Democrats hoping they can hold onto Congress in the midterms.

“We are not afraid to call out Donald Trump as someone who, I believe, is essentially traitorous,” Ryan said on MSNBC. “I had a top-secret clearance. I was an Army officer. If I had done what he did, I would’ve been in jail, 100%. No questions asked.”

Democrat Pat Ryan wins special election in shocking blow to GOP hopes of #RedWave

Ryan, an Army veteran, said Democratic candidates should not shy away from talking about the threat Trump poses for the nation.

Rep.-elect Pat Ryan (Mary Altaffer/)

“Threats to democracy are now top-of-the-line,” Ryan said, referring to a recent NBC News poll. “It’s just guardrails of democracy increasingly being hit, and that’s a wake-up call for folks.”

Ryan handily defeated former GOP gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro to win the bellwether district and serve out the remainder of Delgado’s term.

Ryan will run in the fall as the Democratic candidate in neighboring NY-18, where he will be favored, especially after his impressive win.

The victory, along with a near miss in another GOP stronghold upstate, was a huge coup for Democrats because it extends their streak of overperformances in special elections, which political insiders consider valuable markers for the national political climate.

Special election for Delgado's old swing seat offers big clues for midterm outlook

Team Blue is now hoping to avoid a blowout loss in the midterms and some Democrats even dare to dream of holding both houses of Congress.

All those wins came since the conservative-dominated Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and rolled back women’s right to choose.

Ryan was the latest Democrat to ride the wave of outrage over abortion rights among women and progressives to victory, leaving little doubt it will be a huge wedge issue in the fall general elections.

He urged fellow underdog Democrats to campaign on a “one-two punch” of populist kitchen table economic issues along with issues of reproductive rights and other freedoms.

“You ripped away reproductive freedom, and access to abortion,” Ryan said, referring to the GOP-appointed judges.