The Midterm Elections at Cornell
The 2026 midterm elections continue to show how Tompkins County stands out from the rest of upstate New York.
The biggest winner of the nationwide blue wave has been Day Hall. Finally, a story has emerged with sufficient media magnitude to sweep the “Cornell 7” story out of the headlines.
The Message
At many rallies, including the October 9 rally in Syracuse, President Trump asked the voters to vote as if he was on the ballot. In response to the election results, President Trump posted, “I wasn’t on the ballot, and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday evening. “Thank you for your attention to this matter.” President Trump also denied blame for specific races such as the re-election bid of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. President Trump posted on Truth Social, “If Greg Abbott, the Governor of Texas, hadn’t become a RINO in the last six months of his Political Life, he wouldn’t have lost. He went back to his original formula, and it wasn’t pretty! President Donald J. Trump.”
President Trump and former President Barack Obama spent the final days of the campaign arguing over the Cheesecake Factory restaurant chain. Obama issued a statement late Tuesday:
“Tonight, the American people sent a clear message; they want a politics that brings people together rather than divides them, and leaders who offer concrete solutions to the challenges they face, They came from different backgrounds and represented a range of political perspectives, but were united by shared values, a belief in public service, and a commitment to putting the people of their districts and states first. Our job now is to roll up our sleeves, make changes wherever we have the power to do so, prevent further damage, and lay the groundwork for the future[.]”
The Results
Trump came to Syracuse to campaign for the Republican candidate for Governor as well as two Congressional candidates, Kailee Buller and Anthony Constantino.
| Governor Candidate | State-wide | Tompkins County |
| Kathy C. Hochul – D | 3,550,354 60.1% | 26,737 75.9% |
| Bruce A. Blakeman – R | 2,345,191 39.7% | 8,385 23.8% |
Tompkins County went for Hochul to a greater extent than any other county outside New York City.
Trump’s rally was enough to pull Constantino over the finish line in the rural 21st Congressional District, but could not give Buller an upset in the Syracuse 22nd Congressional District where the rally was held.
| 21st Congressional District | |
| Anthony Constantino – R | 139,792 51.0% |
| Blake Gendebien – D | 133,714 48.8% |
| 22nd Congressional District | |
| John W. Mannion – D | 159,032 58.3% |
| Kailee Buller – R | 113,377 41.6% |
In our own 19th Congressional District, Tompkins County played a decisive role in Riley’s re-election:
| 19th Congressional District | District-wide | Tompkins County |
| Josh Riley – D | 164,506 57.5% | 27,592 78.8% |
| Peter K. Oberacker – R | 121,475 42.4% | 7,311 20.9% |
Riley got 855 more Tompkins County votes than Hochul, who was at the top of the ballot.
It also appears that the Democrats swept control of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. This vastly increases the importance of the lame-duck session that will occur between today and January 3.
The underlying problem shown by the election results is that Cornell and its immediate surroundings have become a monoculture that is isolated from the normal political give-and-take that occurs in New York State as a whole.
