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New York’s 19th Congressional District, which sprawls from the Hudson Valley in the south through the Catskills and north to Albany, is green and lush, dotted with sloping hills, manicured lawns, and treelined hamlets with names like Kerhonkson and Stone Ridge. Driving up State Route 209 to the regional hub of Kingston, the homes are neat and tidy, with American flags proudly flying from front porches.

It’s hard to imagine that this otherwise tranquil area is being closely watched as a key battleground in the upcoming November election for the US House of Representatives. The district is currently held by Republican incumbent John Faso, a former state assemblyman first elected in 2016. The Democratic National Committee hopes to flip the seat and has pumped in millions to defeat Faso.

For all the hubbub surrounding the race, Faso, 65, continues to campaign in an evenhanded tone, a style he’s perfected over decades of public service. The soft-spoken Republican has been described as “New York’s most decent politician” and has won respect on both sides of the political divide. He says the political climate is almost as bad as it seems.

“You’d think we’re at each other’s throats 100% of the time,” he says, adding with a wink, “but really it’s just 50% of the time.”

The voters in the 19th favored Barack Obama in 2012, but then went for President Trump in 2016. A Democrat held the Congressional seat as recently as 2010, and the voter rolls are almost evenly divided between 141,000 Democrats, 138,000 Republicans, and 115,000 independents.

Mr. Faso, who is ranked the 18th most bipartisan House member by the Lugar Center, is known for his ability to think beyond the party platform. “I pride myself in being bipartisan,” he says. “I work routinely with people on the other side of the aisle for solutions to problems. In reality, putting our heads together is the best approach. We get a fair of amount of cooperation on certain universal issues, like the opioid crisis. But there’s no doubt that there are significant political and philosophical differences.”

Though his opponents have tried to paint him as a Trump lackey, Faso has a mixed record in supporting the president. While he believes the president has been “pretty good” on the economy and supported his initiative to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, he believes Trump has gone down the “wrong path” on trade and tariffs. Still, Faso admires the president for thinking creatively about long-standing challenges.

“He’s unconventional,” he says. “He challenges the prevailing wisdom.”

Eroding Values

John Faso grew up on Long Island, the son of a repair technician father and homemaker mother, and graduated from SUNY Brockport and Georgetown University Law Center. A practicing Roman Catholic, he moved upstate to Kinderhook after getting a job in Albany in the early 1980s.

“I love it here,” says Faso, who is married with two children. “The wide-open spaces, the pace of life, the mountains, and historic sites. We have a gorgeous district.”

That’s why it irks him that New York State suffers from an ongoing population drain. The Empire State once sent 43 members to the House of Representatives — but today the delegation is just 27.

“We used to be the most populous state in the country, and now we rank fourth, behind California, Texas, and Florida.”

Why is this happening? According to Faso, the culprit is the liberal taxation policies of New York City mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo.

“Families who own businesses are fleeing this state at the first opportunity,” he explains. “Businesses and high-net-worth individuals are leaving. Middle-class retirees are moving to another state. And my fear is that this exodus is going to accelerate.”

Faso, who once ran for state comptroller, last year inserted a provision into an amended health care bill (one that was ultimately defeated) that would have limited New York State’s right to impose Medicaid costs on taxpayers via a property tax.

“Residents of this state are astounded at the real estate taxes they have to pay when they buy a home,” he says, “so I pushed for that provision.”

He also introduced legislation that would preempt an archaic New York law that imposes higher liability on construction companies for on-site accidents. “It’s called the Scaffold Law,” he says. “And it’s been around since the late 1800s.” The problem is that these liability costs only serve to increase building costs by seven to ten percent. And, he says, the law doesn’t protect the workers while benefiting the lawyers.

When our conversation turns to the erosion of traditional values in the United States, Rep. Faso grows truly concerned.

“There’s definitely an increased secularization in our society,” he says. “Yes, we have separation of church and state, but religion shouldn’t be banished altogether. If you look at Western Europe you can clearly see the trend: religious people are being disparaged. Young people aren’t interested in attending religious services. And I don’t know if there’s any solution to this problem.”

Though Faso doesn’t sit on any committees that deal with foreign affairs, he believes President Trump did the right thing by pulling out of the Iran deal. “The Iranians have shown no intention of becoming a member of the nations,” he says. “They haven’t used the money they received to improve living conditions or their economy. It’s my hope that the Iranian people will eventually be granted self-determination.”

Talk about Israel with John Faso and he’ll break into a huge smile. He and his wife visited there last summer on a “profoundly influential trip” organized by AIPAC and led by Biblical scholars. Faso says he was overwhelmed by the visit, especially the opportunity to visit places he’d only read about in the Bible. “We had remarkable experiences there,” he says. “Just the other day, we were reading a passage in church, and suddenly my ears perked up. Hey, I was there!”

The tour included a visit to the Golan Heights and to an Israel army base where Faso met young soldiers. He also met Prime Minister Netanyahu and got a small taste of Israeli politics. “All those multiple parties — it makes the American system look tame!”

A True Friend

Faso’s climb up the political ladder hasn’t been easy. He lost his 2002 race to become state comptroller, and in 2006 he lost the gubernatorial election to Elliot Spitzer, who was later forced to resign.

Now John Faso stands as an incumbent congressman, hoping to win a second term. His opponent is 41-year-old Democrat Antonio Delgado, a former Rhodes scholar and rapper-turned-lawyer. Recently, the New York Post revealed that his lyrics on a 2006 album contained anti-American and racially charged messages.

A recent Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee poll put Delgado ahead of Faso by seven points — but the National Republican Congressional Committee quickly dismissed that as “bogus,” as it came just days after Delgado’s rap lyrics were exposed by Post.

It’s interesting to note that members of the Orthodox community can make an impact in this election. There are an estimated 200 families living full-time in the 19th district today — at the Yeshiva of South Fallsburg, the Vizhnitz community in Kiamesha, the chassidic enclave in Bloomingburg, as well as assorted families in Monticello, Woodridge, Ellenville, and elsewhere.

There is also a growing number of families who own homes in the district and spend lots of quality time in the area. Increasingly, these homeowners are opting to register to vote upstate rather than in the city for a variety of reasons. Community askanim advise homeowners to contact their local board of elections for more information.

Agudath Israel board member Chaskel Bennett says he’s been very impressed with Faso.

“He has been extremely receptive to our requests whenever we’ve asked him to be helpful on a myriad of different issues,” Bennett says. “He works with the askanim, and knows them by name. Of all the many members of Congress I work with, I consider him one of our community’s closest friends.”

New York political activist Yossi Menczer seconds that assessment. “He’s the most honest, down-to-earth, willing-to-help elected official that I ever met in my life,” Menczer says. “I’ve known him for about 15 years, way before he was a congressman. He’s always willing to help and always on top of things.”

In the 2018 elections, liberals and conservatives are battling to define what America stands for, and that tug of war is evident even in small-town Kingston. Just down the street from Rep. Faso’s office, a community center proudly displays its affinity for alternative lifestyles. Two miles from there, several neat, treelined properties proudly fly the American flag.

Welcome to Kingston. Welcome to America. John Faso has his work cut out for him. (Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 719)